Small Miracles
by BlackBarBooks
Summary: ZoSan, AU. Sanji is tricked into working on Christmas eve, much to his dismay. He's resigned to spending his Christmas alone and annoyed when a small miracle appears in the form of a surly green haired manager.
1. Chapter 1

**Small Miracles**

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Merry Christmas dear reader. I hope you have the best holiday ever. You are amazing.

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Sanji was angry. Fuming actually.

He was stacking boxes at his shitty job, knuckles white with anger. He didn't want to be here, who in their right mind was working all Christmas eve?! He was stuck here until midnight, damn it!

The store could go to hell for all Sanji cared. No one was coming here this late. Well, it wasn't late really, not yet. There were still people walking around and other staff bidding the customers a Merry Christmas as they left the store with a cling of bells.

He should have had the evening off, but the poor girl whose shift Sanji was currently working had been crying. Apparently she really wanted to spend Christmas with her boyfriend. Sanji couldn't help offering to cover her shift. He had already promised Zeff and the others that he'd attend the Baratie's Christmas party, but he couldn't refuse a lovely lady something so close to her heart.

Well, he was sure he'd heard she'd been begging everyone else to cover her shift because she wanted to get drunk- but that was none of his business! If she wanted to get drunk with her boyfriend on Christmas, that was perfectly acceptable.

Even if he was pretty sure the girl was single, at least the last time a customer flirted with her, she had flirted back. And that was this morning. The suspicion the girl had lied clawed at Sanji's mind.

Sanji shook his head, a man always forgives a woman's lies!

He wasn't angry at the girl or himself, he was angry at the store. This shitty store he worked at that wasn't closed on shitty Christmas! Sanji slammed the jar of pickles on the table, grumbling to himself and itching for a cigarette he probably wouldn't be able to get for at least five hours.

"Later Sanji!" The others in the store waved, holding small complimentary presents from the store in their gloved hands, leaving the blond alone with nothing but an obnoxiously cheery automatic Santa clause statue occasionally screaming out, "Ho, ho, ho!"

Fuck this. Sanji grumbled, taking a seat behind the counter and glaring at the snow piling up outside. The streets were getting empty; people were retreating to their homes to spend time with their families. Sanji sighed, a sting of guilt in his stomach. He'd done the right thing, he didn't have a lover to spend the holidays with, so he didn't have anything special to do. Christmas came every year, Zeff would understand.

It didn't change the fact the store was a piece of shit for not being closed. No one was coming in here! He could leave if he wanted and no one would know!

Well, his shitty manager might find out. The green haired bastard of a boss would probably fire him on the spot if he left. He hated that guy, he had a stupid as fuck name too, 'Roronoa Zoro'. Who in their right mind would name their kid 'Zoro'? It was almost worse than 'mistake'.

The guy was just a couple of years older than Sanji too, and was already the store manager. He looked like a criminal, a scar across his eye and three earrings. How someone like him got a manager's position baffled Sanji.

It could come in handy though. When an angry customer called for the manager after screaming Sanji's ear off for what seemed like forever for no particular reason, Sanji would ask Zoro to come over and take this customer's complaint.

Zoro was above average height, slicked back green hair and incredibly muscular, which was clearly visible under the obnoxiously dark green t-shirt with the store's logo on the front. The stupid smiley face was stretched across Zoro's chest, seeming almost deformed and moving as the man breathed.

Usually the customers backed off at the sight of Zoro's sour grimace and piercings. The slicked green hair and smiley face name tag saying 'Manager' contrasting hilariously when he snarled out, "What the fuck do you want?" with all the politeness of an inebriated rock.

Sanji had no idea how Zoro had kept his job for this long. He was rude to the customers, sour to the higher ups and got lost in the home appliance department every time he was called there for lifting heavy boxes. It was sort of the one 'job' Zoro excelled at as a manager; moving extremely heavy stuff.

Zoro seemed to like arguing, but Sanji tried to avoid talking to the manager. He couldn't resist getting into a heated vocal fight with the man until he remembered that he was his manager while in the middle of insulting him, so he usually backed off. It infuriated him because Zoro usually smirked at him like he'd won the argument fairly.

Sanji hated his boss with a passion, but it was good to know he always had his back when it came to horrible customers.

Sanji sighed, wondering if he should just buy himself something to read while he sat here waiting for nothing to happen. He'd already been here for half an hour and he was bored out of his mind. If he was going to miss the delicious Christmas dinner Zeff was no doubt making AND half the party afterward then he might just as well buy himself some cookies or something.

No one was going to know anyway. Sanji stood up and traversed the cookie aisle, picking out some tempting packs and taking them back to the register. The store was completely mute now, someone had turned off the infernally looping Christmas music that had been sounding through the speakers for months.

Thank god for small Christmas miracles.

He might even get his media player and headphones, no one was going to care; there was no one in the store! Damn it this was such a fucking waste of his time. If there wasn't going to be a single damn customer that came through tonight he was going to complain to the owner for ruining his Christmas for absolutely nothing.

Sanji walked around the register, ringing his two boxes of cookies casually. He wasn't allowed to ring his own shopping, but fuck it there was no one here to stop him and he wasn't planning on doing anything wrong! He leaned over to type in his company discount code when his concentration was broken.

"Oi! What are you doing!?" Zoro's angry growl echoed through the silence of the store and almost startled Sanji out of his seat. He fell forward, hitting the register scale with his elbow, bashing his head into the monitor at the side as he yelped in surprise and pain.

"Don't sneak up at me like that you bastard!" Sanji snapped, turning back to glare at his manager. He erased the ten kilograms of bananas the system had misunderstood his flailing as. Zoro was walking towards him, frowning like usual and staring at him with his single functioning eye. "I didn't know you were still here, It doesn't matter if I'm ringing my own shopping! I'm not cheating or anything!"

"That's not what I was talking about." Zoro groused, jerking a thumb to his office door with an annoyed huff. "You didn't come to the office to pick up your present. You read the notice, right?"

"I figured I'd pick it up before I went home. I can't really use a shitty present while I'm stuck at work." Sanji remembered the notice hanging in the staffroom. He just didn't give a shit. He didn't want anything Christmas related from this shitty workplace.

Zoro walked back to the office without a word, turning his back on Sanji, unable to see the blond boldly flip him off from behind his back. God he hoped Zoro left soon. Sanji ran his card through the slot, finishing up his shopping before anything else came to ruin it.

"Here."

Zoro appeared again, smacking the present in his lap with a dull thud. Probably chocolate. Sanji rolled his eyes, it even sounded cheap. It was terribly wrapped too, the moss-brain probably wrapped it himself.

"What is it?" Sanji asked, with a slight curiosity as he eyed the crumbled green and blue wrapping paper.

"Chocolate." Zoro stated plainly, no emotion in his voice as he flat out told Sanji the contents of the present and robbed it of any mystery it might have held.

"Huh." Sanji frowned disinterestedly, pulling open his bag of cookies and stuffing one in his mouth rebelliously in front of Zoro.

"You can go home now."

Sanji almost chocked on his rebellious cookie. "W-wha?"

"I said you can go. Get out. Merry Christmas and all that shit." Zoro crossed his arms over the stretched logo on his shirt. Sanji took a moment to cough up a metaphorical lung and half a cookie before he managed a proper reply.

"But the store?, It's not closed and-"

"No one is going to come here tonight. I can manage it fine on my own. You should go." Zoro said nodding towards the window. "Before you get caught in a blizzard."

"uh... okay." Sanji said dumbly, jumping from the seat and stuffing his cookies into his bag. "you sure?"

"I am. Get out. See you Wednesday." Zoro said calmly as he sat down in the chair Sanji just vacated, slamming his feet on the register with a clatter of chains at his hip. The man yawned lazily and crossed his hands behind his head.

Sanji grabbed the company chocolate and stuffed it into his bag, running down to the changing room before the manager changed his mind. He couldn't believe his luck! Maybe Zoro wasn't such a bastard after all?

Sanji hurriedly pulled on his coat and snow boots, wrapping a scarf around his neck and up to his ears before he made his way to the staff exit. He hesitated at the door, the doorknob cold as his hand lingered on the metal.

He made his way up the stairs to the store front, eying Zoro who was staring at the snow piling up outside with an incredibly bored expression. He paused at the top of the stairs, glancing at the clock before he cleared his throat awkwardly. Zoro turned his head to look at him.

Sanji remained Silent for a moment, his mouth dry as he watched the man from across the room. The silence in the usually loud store was deafening, Zoro looked incredibly calm and at ease, no tension in him as he reclined in the chair. He didn't look like he had anywhere he'd rather be.

"Merry Christmas, Zoro." Sanji said with as much sincerity as he could muster, maybe he was the only one who'd said this to him today and meant it? Maybe Zoro didn't have anyone to spend Christmas with? The fact that he knew nothing about his manager outside of work suddenly hit Sanji like a pile of bricks.

"Merry Christmas, blondie." Zoro's deep voice was softer than usual and Sanji could hear the hint of a smile in the words, they weren't meant to aggravate him, even if Sanji loathed the man's nicknames.

Sanji waved awkwardly, pulling up his scarf to hide the faint blush on his cheeks as he headed for the staff exit.

"Uh..." Sanji muttered softly, pausing halfway down the stairs. "When you finish up at midnight, there will be an open Christmas party at my old man's restaurant." Sanji blurted out with only a glance over his shoulder to make sure Zoro was listening.

"If you want to stop by for a drink, it's called the Baratie." Sanji continued waving the subject off casually. "-It's on fifth and main down the East-blue."

He didn't wait for a reply. His heart was hammering in his chest for some reason and he bolted out the door before Zoro could say anything.

He didn't care about following other people's footsteps to avoid getting snow in his shoes. He didn't mind the cold biting at his heavily blushing cheeks. He lit himself a cigarette, looking up at the softly falling snow that was slowly making its way to the ground in slow lazy sways.

He didn't know why, but he really hoped Zoro would stop by for a drink later that night.

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I have no idea if this will go any further. I'd appreciate to hear your opinion on this, I just felt compelled to write something xmass-y.


	2. Chapter 2

**Small Miracles chapter 2**

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It was 20 minutes past midnight. Sanji was standing on the balcony of the Baratie, the sounds of the party inside seeming so distant in the heavy snowfall. The white flakes were piling up on the shoulders of his jacket. He'd eaten way too much of Zeff's christmas cooking, overdosed on dessert and was holding his eight glass of eggnog for the night.

"Oi! Sanji!" Patty yelled out, breath stinking with all the scotch he'd had over the course of the evening "come back inside and look at what Carne's doin' to da tree!"

"I'll be there in a moment" Sanji waved his cigarette to the other man, staring out at the street leading to the store he worked at. "-Finishing my cigarette." Blue eyes narrowing at a distant black shape, it walked right past, so it couldn't be Zoro.

Patty disappeared back through the door and Sanji allowed himself a disappointed sigh. Why was he actually expecting Zoro to come over? Even IF Zoro had no one to spend Christmas with, he probably had SOME plans that didn't revolve around showing up at a party hosted by his employee's father.

Sanji rubbed his temples awkwardly, what had he been thinking? It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight it just made him want to crawl under his covers and never come out again. Even –IF- Zoro actually showed up, what the fuck was he going to do once he was here? He'd have to talk to his manager, his BOSS, outside of work!

What was he going to talk about? He'd never been able to talk to Zoro without arguing with him at work. What would Zoro expect anyway? Should he even call him "Zoro", or should he call him "Mr. Roronoa"? It sounded strange, but he'd wished him merry Christmas by calling him "Zoro" and the man was just two or three years older than he was.

The bastard always called him by some bizarre nicknames too, like Blondie or curly-brow. Sanji grimaced, he killed his cigarette in the pile of snow on the balcony railing. It was almost 1 am, officially Christmas. It was just for the best that Zoro didn't show up, Sanji hated his guts.

The blond went back inside, putting all thoughts of work and any work related issues aside as he slipped into the couch beside some of the waiters. Carne was throwing all the staff aprons over the tree with clumsy inebriated movements. Sanji rolled his eyes, he'd have to remember to wash them all for his old man.

Time passed and Sanji had completely forgotten about his invitation to his manager. It was almost 2 am, too early to call the party over, but the majority of the party guests were either drunk or well on their way. Sanji was only feeling the slight buzz, not wanting the hangover in the morning by any means.

Zoro was forgotten and Sanji was confused when Zeff walked over to him and kicked him in the shin.

"There's someone by the door for you." Zeff groused, jerking a thumb to the doorway. "He looks shady, if you don't know him, don't let him in."

Sanji blinked in confusion for a few seconds, staring up at his old man's face for a few moments while the words seeped in. When he finally realized that Zoro had actually shown up, he sprung to his feet, pressing the half-finished glass of eggnog into Zeff's hands as he ran for the door.

Sanji fixed his suit, the ugly candy-cane striped tie Patty had insisted he wore slipping back into the jacket as he ran a hand through his hair to fix it up. He pulled over the door, eyebrows raising in amusement when he noticed Zoro's snow covered head and shoulders.

"About time you got to the door" Zoro huffed, shaking snow from his hair with a cold looking hand. Sanji couldn't help grinning at the sight, his usually messily slicked back hair was tousled and all over the place and he didn't look like the same guy who gave him hell for sneaking out for smokes outside of his break.

"I didn't think you were coming, you're really late." Sanji stepped aside, holding the door open for the man. "Did you get lost?"

"I did NOT get lost." Zoro snarled, glaring at Sanji with his one functioning eye and a scowl on his face as he stepped inside into the warmth. The firm denial told the truth; maybe that shape that walked past the street three times before had actually been Zoro.

Sanji chuckled, watching as Zoro yanked off his green scarf and jacket. He'd never seen Zoro wear anything but the work uniform before, seeing him wearing a coat and scarf was hilariously out of place. Zoro looked around before tossing his coat and scarf into the pile on the table, running a hand through his hair to slick the wet mess back.

"So, you said there would be free booze." Zoro turned around, smirk on his face implying he was planning on drinking the place dry. Sanji's mouth opened to answer, but his jaw simply creaked on its hinges when Zoro turned around.

Zoro was wearing the tightest, most form fitting black shirt Sanji had ever seen. Over it he was wearing an unbuttoned dark green shirt with only the thinnest black lines running down the fabric. Zoro frowned, pulling at his shirt to reveal that the tight shirt underneath was in fact a sleeveless one.

"I wasn't planning on attending any damn parties, so you can't give me shit for not wearing anything fancy like you are." Zoro frowned, straightening his tight black shirt at the front where it had started riding up at the front of his black jeans.

"E-Everyone's drunk so they won't care at all..." Sanji managed to stutter awkwardly, tearing his eyes from the way Zoro's shirt was bulging tightly around his upper arms. "In fact, the shirt is more than I was expecting."

"I'm not here to impress anyone, just show me the booze." Zoro grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that strained the seams of his shirt. Sanji internally whimpered as he gestured to the bar.

"I'll show you the selection, come on." Sanji nodded and put his hands in his pockets as he walked across the restaurant to the bar and buffet of food and mixed drinks. Patty and Carne were waltzing across the floor and singing drunkenly to 'Holy Night' at the top of their lungs.

Sanji's cheeks burned, they were so embarrassing.

While his excuse to not look at his boss lasted, Sanji went over a few things in his head.

1. Zoro actually showed up, so Sanji was sort of obligated to keep him company until the party was over or until the man decided to leave.

2. Zoro was actually sort of attractive, in a criminal bad-guy sort of way. This really wasn't a good thing, having the hots for his boss would only make his job unnecessarily _hard._

3. Zoro was here and hot at the same time and Sanji had maybe drunk a little too much to be able to ignore the dangerous aspect of this combination.

Sanji paused as he reached the table, grabbing a glass and wiping it off with a napkin. He really shouldn't do anything about this, the odds Zoro went for men were incredibly slim. If he attempted anything of the sort, it would not only make his job incredibly uncomfortable and awkward, but it might actually put it in danger.

Sanji had no idea how Zoro felt about bisexuals or homosexuality, if the marimo bastard was one of those homophobic men who would harass him over it, Sanji would either have to quit his job or even get fired for swinging both ways.

He turned around, resolutely platonic grin on his face as he passed the glass to Zoro. "Clean drinks are at the bar, mixed ones on the table." Sanji got a new glass, filling it with eggnog and taking a sip to calm his nerves. "It's actually really good."

Zoro arched a brow at him, glancing at the glass in his hand. "Are you even allowed to drink?"

Sanji almost did a spit take, his drink pretty close to escaping out his nose. It burned and Sanji swallowed thickly with a grimace. "OF COURSE I CAN YOU BASTARD!" Sanji huffed, wiping at his mouth with the napkin. "This place belongs to my old man you know-"

"I mean legally." Zoro smirked, leaning over Sanji to get a bottle from the shelf. He smelled like wet hair and snow-soaked fabric. "Aren't you only 20 years old?"

"T-That has nothing do to with anything! I'm turning 21 in march!" Sanji frowned, drinking the rest of the eggnog to prove his point. "Besides, isn't the drinking age limit here lower?"

"Not sure, I never really gave a shit about that." Zoro poured himself a liberal amount of alcohol, clashing his glass against Sanji's empty one with a grin. "To booze."

Sanji rolled his eyes, refilling his glass as Zoro took a large gulp of the alcohol in his own. As soon as the moss-head lowered it again, Sanji clinked his against it.

"To Christmas." The blond smiled, enjoying Zoro's frown as the man rolled his eyes. This was much more comfortable than Sanji had been expecting. Seeing his manager so human was a little jarring though, realizing that the man had a life, hobbies and even opinions outside of the store was finally starting to seep in. Sanji's curiosity was raised.

"So, you live here?" Zoro looked around, his one whole eye glancing at various scenes of drunken shenanigans Sanji was getting increasingly embarrassed about.

"I used to." Sanji shrugged, Glancing to the stairs that lead up to the apartment and his old room. "I've moved out." Sanji didn't want to mention the reason for it though.

"Why don't you work here?" Zoro questioned, taking a sip from his glass with his one dark eye resting curiously on Sanji.

"You're asking a LOT of questions you know." Sanji frowned, swirling his drink around in his glass. "I don't have to answer anything."

"I was just trying to make conversation curly brow." Zoro snarled, finishing his drink with a huff and refilling his glass.

"How about we take turns?" Sanji suggested casually, tilting his head questioningly at the other man and raising his glass. "Sounds fair?"

Zoro nodded, taking another sip of his drink, eyeing the other bottles on the shelf greedily. "Then ask me something already." Sanji paused for a minute, looking at his drink thoughtfully as he wondered what he'd like to know about the other man. If he liked men was the first thing that came to mind, but that was a bad idea no matter the answer.

If Zoro said: YES, he might take the question as a hint that flirting was alright. Sanji wasn't sure what he'd do if Zoro tried to seduce him right now, he'd had enough to cloud his judgment and he was pretty sure Zoro's good looks weren't a combination of beer goggles and loneliness.

If Zoro said: NO, then that was either a huge disappointment that might lead to some extremely awkward conversations or even to Zoro walking away and giving him hell at work for it.

"How old are you?" Sanji asked innocently, taking a reassuring drink of eggnog. Zoro Finished his sip of what Sanji suspected was dry vodka, before wiping his lower lip with distracting swipe of his thumb.

"I've been 24 since November." Zoro shrugged, grabbing one of the small appetizers on the plate next to him. He held the toothpick up as he inspected the cheese, meat and olive impaled on it, he seemed to approve of it, since he popped it in his mouth and dragged the toothpick lazily from between clenched teeth to get the food off.

Sanji's distracting himself from Zoro´s mouth by getting one of the cheese crackers and popping them in his mouth. "Your turn."

"Then tell me why you're not working here then." Zoro rolled his eyes, chewing through his words. So unrefined, but at least he didn't chew open-mouthed.

"Well, I can't work here without getting a shitty certificate." Sanji shrugged, swallowing the spicy cheese and washing it down with the eggnog. "They only hand those out twice a year and the test costs a lot of money."

"Certificate?" Zoro's brow furrowed, taking two more of the appetizers and dragging theme off into his mouth.

"It's my turn to ask." Sanji grinned, watching Zoro roll his eyes at him. "Do you like those?" He gestured to the food the man was currently eating, and Zoro nodded with his mouth preoccupied with chewing.

"That counts as a question, shit-brow, now answer mine." Zoro smirked around the words, taking a drink to wash down the food.

"Well, I made those." Sanji nodded to the appetizers, watching Zoro's one eye go wide in surprise as he slowly turned to look at the intricate assortment of food. "I'm a chef. Well, I will be when I finally get my damn license."

"You need a license, even if you can do that?" Zoro pointed at the food, frowning in confusion.

"My turn to ask marimo-bastard." Sanji chuckled and Zoro growled in annoyance, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "How long have you worked in retail?"

"Way too fucking long" Zoro groaned in annoyance, taking a large drink to emphasize the statement. Sanji couldn't help but chuckle at the man's exasperation. That might explain why he was always so grumpy towards the customers.

"Well, I need a license to be legitimately allowed to cook food in a restaurant. It's a formality. I went to a shitty snob school called Kamabakka to learn cooking." Sanji sighed, pulling his packet of cigarettes out of his jacket and looking longingly over to the door. "They usually write the students off with a certificate after the final exam, but my old man got sick and I had to leave, so I didn't take it."

Sanji turned around, pointing to the door. "I'm going out for a smoke, think you can handle standing outside with me or want to stay here alone?"

"I'm counting that as a question." Zoro grinned, refilling his glass before walking to Sanji. "And I answer it by following you so you can inhale your cancer sticks."

Sanji felt a little warmer as he crossed the floor with Zoro following him, pushing the door open and lighting a cigarette at the same time. He stepped outside and inhaled deeply, blowing smoke against the snowfall.

"So that snob school only allows you to retake the test twice a year?" Zoro followed Sanji through the door, taking a drink as he kicked the railing of the small porch, forcing snow to fall off the handle.

"Yeah, it's really expensive and the school is pretty far off." Sanji hummed sadly, looking at his cigarette burn between his fingers. "So I'm just hanging on in that shit job until I can get my damn certificate."

Sanji paused awkwardly when Zoro fell silent. Shit, he'd forgotten Zoro was actually his boss. He cautiously looked up at Zoro, who was looking at him with an amused grin around his glass.

"Shit. I didn't mean that the job was bad, It's just that I'm sort of overqualified I guess and- uh…" Sanji face palmed, sighing deep as deep rumbling chuckle emerged from Zoro's chest.

"Talking casually like this is pretty weird." Zoro mused, taking a sip off his glass with a teasing raise of his eyebrows. "I've gotten so used to having you under me all the time at work."

_I can be under you all the time outside of work too. _Sanji's alcohol induced mind almost managed to send that sentence to his mouth, thankfully the fact that he was currently smoking a cigarette managed to catch that terribly obvious flirt.

Fuck it he _really_ should stop drinking now. The risk of losing his job was starting to seem less and less important the more he talked to the other man. If he drank anymore he could end up doing something he might regret. Like kissing Zoro, making out with Zoro or even pulling him upstairs to fuck on his old bed.

Well, he might not regret those things too much, but his career might and if Zoro wasn't into men, he'd probably get punched in the face for even trying. Zoro was damn strong too, getting punched by him would really hurt. He'd seen him carrying boxes of books like they were filled with feathers.

"Yeah. It's pretty weird." Sanji agreed after an awfully long thoughtful drag of his cigarette. "I mean, you're usually such a shitty bastard at work." Sanji teased, finishing his cigarette and heading back inside. Zoro followed him, closing the door tightly and brushing snow from his hair before he followed Sanji to the table again.

Sanji put down the eggnog, determined to quit drinking for the night. There was some non-alcoholic punch on the table, so he filled a plastic cup with the cinnamon flavored stuff and sighed into it.

"Whose turn is it?" Sanji went back to the conversation, brow furrowed as he remembered the way Zoro kept twisting his questions into duds. "I think it's mine." Sanji mused, smirking at Zoro who frowned at him. "I want to know what your hobbies are."

"I practice martial arts and swordsmanship." Zoro shrugged, finishing his glass and refilling it. The man was a SPONGE for booze apparently. He didn't even look tipsy and he'd already had over half a bottle.

"oh, martial arts huh? I used to do a lot of Capoeira." Sanji was happy he had at least something in common with the other man. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be friends with him though, It was going to be hard enough to see Zoro around at work without them actually hanging out outside of work too.

"That's the Brazilian kick-thing. The battle, dance thing?"

"It's not DANCING per say." Sanji argued, looking over Zoro's shoulder and directly at his old man who was staring at him with an eyebrow raised in fatherly concern. Sanji blinked at him, and Zeff raised his hands, hitting his first into his palm with a questioning look, gesturing to Zoro. Offering to beat Zoro up and kick him out of the restaurant no doubt.

Sanji shook his head slightly, looking at Zoro and giving him a slight smile to show the old man he was actually enjoying the other man's company. Zeff's brow rose up to his overly tall hat, nose twitching in curiosity as he looked Zoro over from behind.

He didn't seem to disapprove, his face turning into a comical sneer of "not bad" before he walked off, leaving Sanji red-faced and practically shaking with a mixture of laughter and embarrassment.

"What's your problem?" Zoro glanced over his shoulder, Zeff was long gone and Sanji allowed himself to laugh a little out loud. Zoro's one eye was narrowed suspiciously as he scanned the rowdy party around them.

"Ah just… someone fell over and spilled his drink all over themselves." Sanji lied, trying to get Zoro's attention back before he realized what horrible idiots were attending this party. "You missed it."

Zoro snorted, turning back to Sanji. "So no one in this party has anywhere better to be?" the older man questioned casually, eyes not meeting Sanji's as he finished his drink with a sinful toss of his head.

Sanji watched Zoro's adams apple bob as he swallowed, closing his eyes for a second to calm himself. He really shouldn't be saving these mental images for editing later. He was NOT going to jerk off to his boss. NOPE.

"Nope. Most of these sad bastards don't even have a family." Sanji huffed, holding back the horribly sappy statement that they _were family _in fear of Zoro mocking him for it.

"Your old man's here?" Zoro looked around, eye narrowed. "it that the guy with the braided mustache and huge hat that's glaring at me over there?"

Sanji turned around on the spot, catching the moment Zeff hurriedly turned his head away from them. "Yeah. That's him." Sanji sucked in air through his grit teeth. "Let me introduce you."

He stalked over to Zeff, who was stuffing his face with some shrimps innocently. "Hey, old man." Sanji drawled, gesturing to Zoro. "This is Roronoa Zoro, my manager from work."

Zeff's eyebrow rose at that, turning to look Zoro over in an uncomfortably slow and scrutinizing fashion. Zoro didn't look uncomfortable, but slightly confused. Sanji waited for his old man to stop embarrassing every living thing in the restaurant.

"Alone on christmas eve?" Zeff huffed, looking at Zoro and scowling at him. "You must be single, what's wrong with you then?"

Sanji would have screamed and raved at Zeff's lack of manners if he hadn't been paralyzed in shock. All he could do was stare in disbelief at his old man's face and wait for Zoro to splatter him with his drink and storm off angrily.

Sanji grimaced as he glanced at Zoro, who was staring wide eyed at Zeff with a completely blank look on his face. It would have been hilarious if it hadn't been so terrifyingly hard to read. Sanji was about to apologize for his old man, when Zoro burst out laughing.

The older man laughed loudly and cheerfully, buckling over slightly to hold his stomach. Sanji stared in shock, looking at Zeff who glanced back with a cryptic expression torn between approval and disappointment.

Zoro eventually managed to catch himself, rising up and inhaling deep, grin slipping into a smirk as he spoke.

"I snore." Zoro said casually, bringing his glass up to his lips and taking a sip as Zeff grinned in amusement. Sanji's brow furrowed. That didn't explain why Zoro was single, snoring would just become a problem if people lived together. People could date without sharing a bedroom.

"Is that so? Sanji here snores too." Zeff said with a jab of his thumb in Sanji's chest. The blond growled indignantly, cheeks red as he tried to deny Zeff's accusations. Why was his old man telling Zoro this?

Zoro's brow rose at that, glancing over at Sanji who face palmed. Why was this suddenly such a fascinating subject? He didn't understand why Zoro was looking at him like that, he didn't like it either. He probably looked pretty stupid with his old man raving like that.

"I… sort of do. Sometimes." Sanji almost whined, regretting his decision to introduce the two men. How was this relevant to anything?! Sanji sighed, feeling like there was some sort of joke here he wasn't getting. It was probably on his expense too.

Zeff Patted Sanji on the shoulder. "Patty threw up in the washing machine; I think it's time to call it enough for this Christmas. I'll go tell the others."

"What? So early?" Sanji turned around to look at the clock, reeling when he realized it was almost 5 in the morning. Shit. He'd been talking to Zoro for almost three hours straight. He could swear it felt like an hour. "shit!" Sanji grimaced, suddenly feeling tired when his body realized what had been going on.

"You can stay here eggplant." Zeff patted Sanji's shoulder. "I need you to help me clean up tomorrow morning anyway."

"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea." Sanji glanced over the mess the party had created in the main hall. Zoro was finishing his glass, placing it on one of the tables when he'd drained it.

"Thanks for the drinks." Zoro nodded once and Sanji walked him to the front door. The others were singing drunkenly and getting ready to leave. Zoro barely managed to snatch his jacket and scarf before Carne tossed it to the floor in a laughing fit.

Zoro slipped on his clothes, checking his phone before he wrapped the scarf around his neck. Sanji felt awkward, waiting by the door. He didn't want Zoro to leave, but there was no way to stall now that Zoro was dressed and walking to the door. Damn it. There wasn't even enough snow to justify him staying over to avoid the blizzard.

"See you Wednesday Curly-brow." Zoro's voice was muffled from behind the scarf. Sanji grimaced at the nickname, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, manager moss-brain." Sanji said with mock politeness, earning himself a cheerful laughter from the other man as he left the restaurant along with a floor of drunken idiots. He did not look at his manager's ass, anyone who would accuse him of such things would surely be wrong.

"Don't get lost and die from the cold!" Sanji called after Zoro, every single drunk on the steps turning around simultaneously and cooing at him, swarming towards him to hug him for his apparent concern.

Zoro was the only one who kept walking without looking back, raising his hand casually in a silent wave as he disappeared into the darkness, obscured by smelly slobbering drunks who insisted on Christmas kisses on Sanji's face.

"GET OFF ME BASTARDS!"

"MERRR CHRISSHMASH SHANJI~

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IT'S STILL RELEVANT! Read over and fixed up by **Sunshinesthroughtheclouds.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Small miracles chapter 3**

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-Chapter 3-

"He looks dependable." Zeff said the moment Sanji managed to kick the last slobbering drunk out into the snow and slam the door. "A little old and worn, but-"

"He's just 24." Sanji grumbled, knowing that feigning ignorance was just going to get his shin kicked. "Don't get your bizarre hopes up old man, I'm not going after him."

"Why not? He's very good looking and you seemed to be having relatively friendly human interaction." Zeff grunted, sitting down with a groan and hitting and his shoulders with clenched fists. "That's better than the entitled spoiled women you tend to bring over for your dinner dates."

Sanji moved behind his old man, rubbing at his shoulders to ease the back pain the man usually suffered after a full workday. "Don't talk about my lovely ladies like that!"

Zeff huffed, leaning forward as the younger man worked his fingers over sore muscles. It was always painful to remember how old the geezer was getting. Sanji closed his eyes and selfishly wished that Zeff would stick around forever.

"Besides. He's my boss."

"They make porn movies about that." Zeff oh-so-helpfully pointed out, his braided mustache twitching in amusement. "You could always quit and come work here anyway. Problem solved."

"I don't want to be a waiter or a dishwasher old man, I'm a chef."

"No, you're a cashier at a shitty little store."

"I'm STILL an educated chef!" Sanji hissed venomously, tempted to rub a little harder into his old man's back as punishment but not finding the heart for it. "I'll get my certificate in a few months and then I can come back here and work as a chef."

Zeff made a long disapproving sound and rolled his shoulders back. "Isn't it going to be hard to work with that guy from now on though?" Zeff questioned, sitting up and brushing Sanji's hands off his back.

"No, not really." Sanji shrugged giving his fingers a stretch. "I'll just leave it. I don't even know if he's into men-"

Zeff turned around at that, a comically large frown on his face and his eyes wide with disbelief. "What did you just say boy?"

Sanji paused awkwardly, blinking at his old man who looked like he'd just went blind. "I said I had no idea if Zoro was into men-"

Zeff laughed. Loud and rude and slapped his knee in amusement. Sanji felt increasingly uncomfortable, he'd rarely seen his old man laugh so loudly. Maybe the old fart had drank too much like everyone else?

"Eggplant, that man was sizing up your behind like you'd put up a rental sign on it!" Zeff laughed, sitting back down and pouring himself a drink. "He looked the kind of hungry you can't fill with food."

Sanji blushed at that, feeling awfully self-conscious. "You don't know that, old man! It was crowded and you could have misunderstood something. The man is always scowling you know."

"Not when he's looking at your ass he isn't." Zeff took a sip of his glass, still incredibly amused. "But alright, let's pretend I didn't catch that predatory look on your boss's face when you led him across the floor earlier. He'd still obviously be interested."

"I… Old fart! I don't want to talk about these things with you! It's embarrassing!" Sanji sat down, getting himself another drink, breaking his promise of staying away from alcohol for the rest of the night. Who cared, Zoro was gone anyway. No point in trying to stay sensible.

"He had those earrings-" Zeff groused, gesturing to his ear with a finger, making little swirly motions. "Back when I was young, Left ear meant dominantly homosexual and the right meant-"

"That's old shit geezer." Sanji rolled his eyes, tilting his glass to Zeff and arguing heatedly. "Lots of straight men get piercings now!"

"But three of them? In one ear?" Zeff's brow raised in question, smirk hidden behind his glass. Sanji paused at that, wondering if he'd ever seen anyone else with three earrings in one ear and none in the other.

"Well, he could just be weird-"

"Have you ever heard of the handkerchief code?" Zeff asked casually, taking a drink and placing the glass on the table. "It's also called the 'bandana code' if you want to look it up online." The old man stepped up, stretching his arm a little before heading for the stairs.

"Wait. What? Handkerchief code?" Sanji followed the old man to the stairs, more confused than ever. Zeff didn't say a word as he walked to his own room, with nothing but a;

"good night eggplant, merry christmas."

Zeff slammed the door in Sanji's face. The blond grumbled in annoyance, walking to his old room and throwing himself on the bed. Zeff had changed the sheets apparently; the old man had been counting on him staying over to help with the cleanup first thing in the morning. Or maybe he just knew that Sanji wanted to stay, his apartment was very lonely on Christmas eve.

Sanji picked up his phone, bringing up a search engine and putting in "the handkerchief code" before pressing 'search'. It sounded stupid, like some sort of fancy gentleman duel tradition. He pressed the Wikipedia page that popped up on top of the search and started reading.

"The handkerchief code (bandana or hanky code)." Sanji ran his eyes over the page, it wasn't very long or detailed, but it told Sanji everything he needed to know.

Apparently, bandana on the left side meant dominant top. Sanji paused, thinking for a moment. Yes, that moment before when Zoro had been walking away and Sanji had most certainly NOT checked his boss's cargo, there had been a dark blue bandana in his left back pocket. Neatly folded and only noticeable if someone was actively trying to get the best view.

He'd seen Zoro with bandanas before. He often kept one tied up around his left arm presumably for sword or martial art practice. He'd seen him wear it around his head once before, when he came into work late and holding a big sports bag over his shoulder.

Did this really mean Zoro was gay? Couldn't this just mean that he really liked bandanas? And… strictly kept them on the left side of his body at all times except for his head and… Sanji trailed off. Sighing as he leant back into bed. Damn it.

Wearing a bandana around your arm was bizarre; so was having three earrings in one ear only. Zeff probably wouldn't lie about Zoro looking at his ass either. This all meant that Zoro was into men and interested. Damn it. He didn't need this temptation.

He was his BOSS. He did NOT want to have sex with his boss! It was morally wrong in so many ways and Zoro was a bastard too!

Sanji bit his lower lip, glancing down at the color code. Sure, it supposedly varied greatly in the small things, but the more constant colors included Zoro's. Dark blue in the left pocket huh? Sanji slipped out of his clothes, sleepy shuffling under the covers and alcohol cancelling out his former inhibitions about pleasuring himself to thoughts of his boss.

Fuck. Work was going to be so damn excruciating from now on. Sanji's hand slid down the front of his boxers, feeling the heat in his palm as he tried to imagine Zoro without a shirt on. Sanji let out a small groan at the mental image, trying to visualize the incredible amount of muscle he knew Zoro was hiding under that shirt.

He'd imagine Zoro leaning over him on the bed, the mattress creaking from the older man's weight as he stared at him with his one functioning eye. The usually slicked back green hair tousled and framing his face. Smirk on his lips creasing the bottom of his eye scar.

Sanji sat up slightly, hand making its way up and down his rock hard member as he imagined Zoro's hand in place of his own. He wouldn't mind seeing what the other man could do with his strength either, confident and demanding as he'd leave Sanji's body trembling and sore in all the right ways.

It might have been the alcohol buzzing through his system, but Sanji's body was twitching and burning in need at the thought. He imagined clinging onto Zoro's shoulders while the other man fucked him so deep and hard Sanji' wouldn't be able to sit at the register for a week, he could barely stiffle a groan, working his hand as fast as he could in the confines of his boxers, body tightening desperately around something that wasn't really there.

Sanji turned his head to stifle his moans in his pillow, the muffled sound of Zoro's name erotic to his ears as he came. When the high of orgasm passed, he'd sobered up slightly, sleep pulling him under. Fuck, he'd just made everything awkward. Sanji sighed, realizing he'd have to wash his sheets with the aprons tomorrow.

Maybe Zeff wouldn't notice. Sanji's eyelids were getting heavy, the snow falling outside piling up on the edge of his glass. He felt so comfortable, wrapped up with his old man snoring in the other room just like when he was a kid and lived here. Christmas brunch was the best too, he couldn't wait for-

Wait. How did Zeff know about the handkerchief code? Thankfully Sanji dozed off before that idea had any time to fester and blossom in the back of his head. The morning when he woke up, he'd forgotten about Zeff's bizarre knowledge and spent the afternoon nursing a headache and helping Zeff clean up the Baratie.

The old man seemed to mostly respect his hangover with short lines and questions and hushed voice, that is, until Zeff cleared his throat loudly, catching Sanji's attention from across the room.

"So when do you go back to work?" Zeff questioned casually, sweeping his way over to Sanji, who was trying to pick up all the plastic decorations someone had attempted to juggle and scattered across the floor.

"Wednesday" Sanji hummed as he pulled up his phone, checking the date. "That's the day after tomorrow? Shit." He was really hoping to get a few more days to get over his newfound _issue_ with his boss. He ran a distressed hand through his hair, looking up at Zeff who gave him a long contemplative look.

"Sanji, you know that I won't care about the people you choose in your life, right?"

"Yeah?" Sanji swallowed thickly, he had a feeling that whatever Zeff was about to say next was going to change his life forever, for better or for worse. He held his breath and waited; tension in his back as he stared at his old man. Zeff looked at him very seriously, crossing his hands over the shaft of the broom and resting his chin on them.

"But it would be a shame to let someone with an ass like that get away."

There was silence in the restaurant as neither of them said a word. Zeff blinked at Sanji, still as serious as the grave as he waited for the younger man to react. Sanji stared back, no expression on his face as he slowly reached into his pocket and lit himself a cigarette.

"You're the shittiest old geezer." Sanji frowned, finding his voice after a long moment of silence. "I thought you were being serious."

"I am." Zeff said, seriously. "I don't understand why this is such a problem for you."

Sanji sighed and rubbed his temples tiredly, blowing smoke into the stale and alcohol scented air. "For the first reason, he's my boss."

"How does that matter? He's still a person." Zeff huffed, hitting Sanji on the head with the shaft of the broom "-don't assume people are just their job eggplant."

"That's not what I mean! If I try something and get shot down, work will be awkward for weeks!" Sanji mumbled rubbing at the bump Zeff had given him with the broom. Zeff didn't look convinced, so he decided to give his second reason.

"Secondly, Zoro's huge!" Sanji spread his arms to emphasize the width of the man's shoulders. "What if he's into some seriously kinky stuff too? I don't know how he got all those scars!"

Zeff's brow arched questioningly, "Is that a con or a pro?"

"CON! You're being difficult shitty bastard!" Sanji groaned in frustration, shaking his head. "I've never been with a guy that much bigger than me! He's older too, he's probably used to guys with much more experience."

"Never heard of a guy who was turned off by a virgin-"

"I'm NOT a virgin old man!" Sanji growled in annoyance, not that it was any of his old man's business who he'd slept with. "But I've never had a guy who was that much older than me."

"you're talking like he's three times your age." Zeff huffed unimpressed,

"He's 24 years old and- I DO NOT 'LIKE' HIM." Sanji objected, heat in his face. "He's good looking, but he's also an annoying bastard AND my boss!"

"24 years old is not even an age difference since you are both over 20." Zeff huffed, rolling his eyes. "You are the one who insists on making this more complicated than it needs to be. Don't you have his number? Ask him over to have a drink tonight."

"NO!" Sanji objected, crushing his cigarette in the ashtray. "I'm not going to do such a terribly embarrassing thing!"

"Then ask him over to your apartment then."

"THAT'S WORSE!" Sanji collapsed into a chair, rubbing his temples in exasperation while Zeff watched him in annoyed adoration. "It's worse because… I might…"

"Eggplant, I don't think I've ever seen you enjoy yourself on a 'date' as much as you did last night." Zeff said in a low tone. "-and I've seen dozens of your dates."

Sanji paused at that, looking the restaurant over. Had he really enjoyed talking to Zoro that much? Sure, hours had passed like minutes, he supposed he had enjoyed it. He groaned low, looking at the floor for a minute before he looked up at Zeff.

"Do you think I should talk to him?"

"I think you should." Zeff nodded once. "We're having turkey."

Sanji groaned in embarrassment, picking up his phone. He had Zoro's name listed under "shitty manager". He pressed 'call', nervously listened to the dial tone. Maybe Zoro wouldn't answer! After all, the man might have plans on Christmas da-

"H'llo?" Zoro's voice was sleep drunken and rough, sounding more like he'd belong in a porn movie than on the phone. Sanji's voice faltered slightly, his heart racing in his chest. Shit, he'd woken up his boss! On christmas day! SHIT!

"H-hey, it's me, Sanji." Sanji began, trying not to listen to the shuffling of bed sheets on the other end of the line.

"S-shit! I overslept, I'll be right down and-" Zoro's voice was broken off by a yawn, and Sanji couldn't help but laugh.

"It's christmas day, the store is closed." Sanji pointed out, and the sound of Zoro's belt clattering disappeared.

"huh… then why the fuck are you calling then?"

"Well…" Sanji swallowed thickly, feeling like an idiot and glaring at his smirking old man with the fury of a thousand suns. "We were cleaning up after the party, and we could use some help with the heavy stuff… If you can spare a few hours there's drinks and food included."

Zoro was silent on the other end of the line, Sanji couldn't even hear him breathing and the only clue the other man hadn't hung up was the lack of a dial tone.

"What kind of dinner?"

"We're having turkey." Sanji said and tried to keep the hope out of his voice, Zeff was giving him a thumbs up from the bar, gesturing to the bottles. "-and we have plenty of leftover alcohol."

"What time do you need me?"

_Right now._

"just sometime later, the sooner you arrive the sooner we finish I guess." Sanji held his breath, he could hear the creaking of bedsprings on the other end of the line. "Just whenever you finish your family stuff."

"I'll be right over."

Zoro hung up, leaving Sanji practically vibrating with a mix of tension, excitement and horrible gut wrenching awkwardness.

"so?" Zeff pressed, looking unimpressed as ever.

"He's coming over." Sanji stared at the phone like it just sprouted eight creepy legs. "I need to take a shower."

Sanji ran upstairs, cursing himself for not thinking ahead and bringing a clean set of clothes. He could hear Zeff chuckle from downstairs.

* * *

I've actually started the next chapter. I'll hopefully just finish this story in the next couple of days. before it becomes irrelevant.

read over by **sunshinesthroughtheclouds. **thankies~

I'd love to hear what you have to say! I'm taking prompts for this one as long as they sorta fit in, this story was largely prompts!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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Sanji finished his shower in less than twenty minutes. He blew his hair dry in his haste to style it, and splashes on some of the cologne Zeff had given him as an early Christmas present. The tag said "from Santa" but Sanji had received one of those since he was a kid and they had always had Zeff's badly taped sides.

Sanji paused as he finished grooming his hair in the mirror. Gifts. He hadn't opened the company gift yet. The one Zoro probably wrapped himself; the stupid bastard boss. If only to inspect the terrible wrapping job and maybe have an excuse to thank Zoro for the chocolate he bothered buying for all the staff, Sanji walked to his old room and searched his bag for the present.

The cookies he'd bought the night before were crumbling out of their wrapping, and Sanji frowned when he pulled the crumb-covered gift out of the bag. He was allowed to open it now, even though he'd opened most of his gifts at the gift exchange over yesterday's staff dinner.

The bow was uneven and crooked, sitting too high on the box shaped gift. Sanji shook it once experimentally, the same cheap sounding clatter filling the room. He smiled to himself as he pulled the bow off, ripping the paper off at the sides to avoid the obscene amount of tape that kept the hideously patterned paper together.

Sanji's smile faded slightly when the box turned out not to be a box of chocolate like he'd expected. He discarded the paper on his bed, running a finger along the top of the box to cut the tape keeping the lid in place. The black lid sprang up under Sanji's fingers, revealing an array of items lying in the cotton lined box.

The first thing that caught his attention was his name. There was a large card lying on top of the box, his name written in a scribbly handwriting that he recognized as Zoro's from various staff announcement fliers. He took the card and flipped it over, generic holiday text on the back read:

_Happy holidays! We wish you and your loved ones a merry Christmas! _ On the bottom was the strange smiley face logo of the store. Sanji flipped the card around, looking at his name written in slightly smudged ink. He placed it on his nightstand, looking back to the contents of his gift box.

There was a keychain, with a small silvery plate that had his name engraved in it. Sanji brought it up to look at it, the silver glimmered in the dim light of his room and Sanji rolled the keychain around in his palm. He pulled at the other item in the box, a pair of black, warm looking gloves. He slipped one of them on curiously. They fit perfectly, sitting tightly on his fingers and already warming his skin.

Sanji placed the keychain aside, slipping his other hand into the second glove and cradling his face in his warm palms. Fuck, this was probably the reason why Zoro had insisted everyone had to take their present. Sanji grinned stupidly into his gloves, the gift warming much more than just his hands.

"SANJI! Your boss is here!" Zeff's voice sounded from downstairs, and Sanji jumped to his feet and yanked the gloves off, stuffing them in his pocket along with the keychain as he ran down the stairs. He didn't want Zeff to get too much alone time with Zoro, the old bastard might embarrass him more than he already had!

Sanji caught himself at the corner of the stairs, calming his breath and straightening his jacket, glancing around looking for Zoro. Zeff was standing in the middle of the room with a big bag of empty bottles.

"Where is Zoro?" Sanji glanced around, wondering if the other man was hiding somewhere.

"He's not here yet." Zeff said casually, handing Sanji the bag. "I lied to get you to come downstairs already, take these out to the storage room for me."

Sanji sighed in annoyance, grumbling under his breath as he shouldered the bag, walking to the storage room. He slipped on his gloves, opening the door and entering the room full of alcohol bottles and recyclable plastics and glass, it was freezing in there at this time of year and Sanji was delighted not to feel any cold.

He started working, careful not to get any vile liquids on his new gloves. Separating the plastics and glass and cursing Zeff under his breath for sticking him with the sorting job out in the cold. He could have done this inside damn it!

It took a while, but Sanji finally worked his way to the bottom of the garbage bag, crumpling it together and tossing it into the garbage bag full of bags in the corner. Checking his gloves for stains, Sanji stepped outside, gathering up a snow and crushing it into a solid sphere shape between his gloved hands.

He wondered if he could hit the upstairs window with this. He used to throw snowballs at Zeff's window to wake him up when he was younger. Sanji took a step closer, aiming for his old man's bedroom window as he threw the snowball.

Not realizing in time he was both stronger and taller now, Sanji overshot the window, hitting the edge of the roof and triggering the thick layer of snow piled there to slide off in retaliation. The deep rumbling sounds of the makeshift avalanche on the metal plates of the Baratie's side were ominous to Sanji's ears.

"OH SHI-" Sanji backed out of the way as fast as he could, tripping over lawn ornaments and a long forgotten folding chair buried in the snow. He fell backwards into the pile of snow; the avalanche from above piling up at his feet and twirling up the snow so, for a moment, Sanji was buried in fresh powder.

"FUCK THIS STUPID SHIT I'LL MAKE SURE THAT SHITTY ROOM GETS-" Sanji sat up from the snow, trembling in anger at nothing in particular as he tried to dust the snow off his head without getting it all inside his jacket.

"Eggplant."

Sanji froze. No. This wasn't some sort of stupid romantic comedy movie; there was no fucking way that something like this could happen. Please let him be hearing things or even dreaming. Anything but this kind of cliché!

"Your boss is here."

Sanji grumbled, looking up with a glare. Damn his old man for doing this to him! He was sitting on the ground, covered up to his waist in snow like a child, and Zeff had the nerve to GRIN at him after bringing Zoro to the door?!

Zoro was staring at him in barely restrained amusement, his one open eye practically shimmering in glee at Sanji's childish antics. Sanji groaned in annoyance when Zoro started chuckling darkly, Zeff's moustache twitching in delight.

Sanji hurriedly stood up, dusting off his jacket and pants while grumbling under his breath. Damn it! This was not the mature adult Sanji had been planning on acting like!

Zoro's chuckles became laugher, deep rumbling and dark; low and appealing, despite being at Sanji's expense. He was never going to live this down. Zeff huffed delightedly while turning to Zoro with a look that could just as well have screamed '_STILL WANT HIM?' _in the man's face.

"I could have sorted those bottles inside old man!" Sanji grumbled, walking over to them and avoiding eye contact, shouldering them aside as he stepped into the restaurant. Shaking snow off at the back door, he peeled off his coat trying to get as little snow inside his shirt as possible.

"Well you seemed to be having fun." Zeff pointed out smugly, Zoro's laughter following them inside as the green haired man closed the door.

"NOT having fun." Sanji sighed, rolling his eyes. "But I got the snow off the roof so it's not going to crush your limping ass if you leave the house." Sanji pointed out casually, hanging up his jacket.

"Oh? So it was all for your old man's safety?" Zeff was amused, walking past Sanji and into the main hall to continue cleaning up.

"Yes it was." Sanji grimaced as Zeff passed him with a sly grin. "You should be thankful geezer!"

Zoro, who had finally stopped laughing, was watching Sanji peel off his gloves. Sanji noticed, and smiled a little while peeling the fingers off one at a time. After a calming breath, Sanji raised his gloves up to show them to Zoro.

"These are great." He smiled, closing his eyes to avoid eye contact. He fought the heat in his cheeks, his heart thundering in his chest. "Thanks." He glanced to the side, putting the gloves in his pocket and pulling up his cigarettes.

"Don't thank me, thank the company." Zoro huffed, walking past Sanji and into the hall, pulling off his jacket and dropping it next to Sanji's.

Today Zoro was wearing a large black hoodie with a logo of crossed swords at the back and the nicest pair of sweatpants Sanji had ever seen. The black fabric pooled over the edge of the man's massive boots, with two green stripes along the side of the legs.

It was almost painful how perfectly those pants fit, tight in all the right places and the almost rude length of green string dangling down from the front of Zoro's hoodie, swinging as the man strode over to Zeff. Zoro looked around and eyed the collection of bottles on the bar with interest. Zeff hit him on the head with the broom.

"Don't even think about it!" Zeff huffed, pointing to the heavy furniture and Christmas decorations. "Make yourself useful first!" Sanji ran over, hoping to limit his crazy old man's interactions with Zoro, or better yet, prevent them all together.

Zoro rubbed at his slicked back hair, tousling it and frowning at the old man who simply grinned smugly.

"Then what exactly is it you called me over here for?" Zoro groused, looking over at Sanji who was trying to glare his old man into the kitchen. No. The neon green string resting at the front of Zoro´s pants was NOT getting his attention. Not right now.

"Well-" Sanji began explaining, already done working out the perfect excuse for Zoro being here that didn't involve any attempts by Sanji to get into his pants and, subsequently, fired from his job. Zeff seemed to have other ideas though, so he poked Sanji really hard in the chest with the broom, robbing him of his breath and a chance to explain.

"You're here because the idiot over here-"

Sanji would have screamed if Zeff hadn't poked him in the stomach again, it might look playful, but Zeff's blows always hit a weak spot of some kind.

"-will take all day moving some of these heavy things alone. I threw out my back this morning so I'm not going to be much help with lifting anything." Zeff explained rationally, his logic actually much sounder than Sanji would have given him credit for. Well, if Sanji hadn't seen him lug one of those heavy cinderblock supports across the hall earlier, that is.

Zoro's brow arched and he glanced around, probably locating the heaviest objects in the hall. There were three tree supports remaining in the main room, crates and large barrels of alcohol and a few heavy stone Christmas decorations that needed to go up a flight of stairs.

"We need to clear out these decorations and then reposition all the tables over there." Zeff swung his broom to the lines of heavy wooden tables. "They're too big to move alone without dragging and ruining my floors." Zeff stomped his wooden leg on the polished floors for emphasis.

"Alright. Sounds simple enough." Zoro took a step back, hauling his baggy sweater over his head. Sanji stared, breath stuck in the back of his throat as he watched the shirt Zoro was wearing underneath drag up his stomach, revealing the hem of the sweatpants and the elastic of them man's boxers.

The green string at the front of the pants was barely more than a distraction, only one lopsided bow, without a single real knot, was all that was holding them up. All it would take was a slight yank of the string and the pants would slide off Zoro's perfectly defined hips. Sanji's fingers were itching and he remembered to close his mouth just in time before the green head appeared from the confines of the sweater.

Zoro tugged the shirt down again, tossing his sweater over to a table before, rolling his shoulders casually and cracking his neck. Sanji glanced over to Zeff, who was looking at him with an amused expression, smirk barely hidden under his beard. There was a single EXTREMLY suggestive twitch of the old man's eyebrow and Sanji was reeling in horror at his old man's pervertedness.

"So, what do I move first?" Zoro asked, stretching his arms over his head casually, leaning to the side. Zeff's mustache twitched in amusement, his expression the picture of innocence.

"I'll just go to the kitchen and get dinner started, just follow Sanji's orders." Zeff placed his broom off to the side, walking towards the kitchen. "-and don't destroy my restaurant!" he threw in as an afterthought.

Sanji stared in horror at his old man walk away, feeling Zoro turn to him expectantly. He occupied himself with finishing his cigarette before he turned to face his boss; who was currently awaiting his orders.

"Sorta… weird." Sanji noted, glancing at Zoro as he blew smoke into the air. "Usually _I _take _your_ orders."

"Enjoy it while you can curly brow." Zoro smirked, crossing his arms. "Then tell me what to do, _boss_?"

This should not be turning Sanji on.

But it was.

"Uh… well." Sanji grimaced, trying to wrench his mind out of the gutter. "There are three of those large concrete slabs over there; they need to go out back." Sanji gestured to the door to the right of the kitchen. Zeff was already in the kitchen, looking through the kitchen's window to the restaurant.

"Got it." Zoro walked over to the one furthest away, grabbing the metal top of the stand and hauling it up. "That one over there too right?" Zoro pointed at the second one, picking it up in his other hand and carrying both of them like shopping bags across the hall.

Sanji strode over to keep the door open for him, sparing a glance to Zeff who was watching. He had that same bizarre approving expression on as before, making eye contact with Sanji and giving him a sneaky thumbs up from the back of the counter.

"This won't take long if you're planning on moving everything at once-" Sanji held the door open with his foot, glancing over to the various heavy objects in the room. It had taken at least three guys to carry just one of those supports, exactly HOW strong was Zoro?

"The sooner we can do other things then." Zoro's voice was a little huskier than before, a slight groan rumbling from his chest as he paused in front of the doorway. Grinning to Sanji as he hauled the heavy loads inside the room sideways, brushing slightly against Sanji's leg as he passed.

The touch sent heat through Sanji's entire body. He tensed, not sure if the innuendo and the physical contact had been accidental. Perhaps one of them had been, but Sanji couldn't tell which one it was. He could also just be overthinking the whole situation. He stared into the main hall to distract himself from Zoro's impressive display of strength and tantalizing flex of muscles.

The loud heavy sounding thud of the weight hitting the floor caught Sanji's attention and he glanced inside the storage room where Zoro was bent over, pushing the supports into a far corner next to the only one they had already put away.

_Oh holy fucking shit world_ _, why are you doing this to me? _Sanji bit his tongue to hold back all sounds, trying to let go of the breath he was apparently holding in a way that didn't sound like aroused panting. He quickly averted his gaze from Zoro's lovely fitting exercise pants.

"I'll go get the last one of those, you can start bringing in the boxes of booze and piling them outside in the shack." Sanji tapped his foot on the floor in front of the back door, jerking a thumb to the exit. "Start piling them up in the doorway and I'll help carry them outside when they're all here."

"Booze?" Zoro shouldered the door open looking at the floor and over to the boxes of booze. "Got it."

* * *

_Happy new years! I'd love to hear how you like Zeff so far! Thanks for reading my works in the year 2013! I've got stuff planned, 2014 is gonna be big!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Small Miracles Chapter 5**

* * *

Zeff retreated into the kitchen as soon as he got the chance. It wouldn't do to interfere with the affairs of his bratty blond idiot any more than he had to. The ball was rolling, tumbling actually, down a very steep hill.

Zeff started creating stuffing for the turkey, steady hands cutting down ingredients with decades of experience. He glanced up when he heard the clatter of metal on concrete; that Zoro guy who'd just appeared out of nowhere yesterday was rather impressive.

Zeff had spent enough time in his younger years playing wingman to several of his more _rowdy_ friends to know a good target when he saw one. He knew most of the signs too; even if the pierced ears and bandana might be either too obvious or outdated. He was sure he recognized the other man's interest in his son.

It had infuriated him at first, seeing this punk-looking older man, with all his muscles and face-scar, staring at his Sanji like the eggplant's ass was up for rent. Sanji had given him an approving smile though, and Zeff had to admit that if his boy was going to have a butt-buddy, it might as well be a good looking one.

Watching the green haired man carrying two of the heavy supports at once, Zeff gave a small huff of approval. He could feel the beginnings of pride swelling in his chest. Sanji was manning up and getting serious about his feelings for once, and his taste in men was nothing to scoff at.

He'd assumed that whatever was going on between the two of them was purely physical. Perhaps this green haired man was some sort of 'booty-call' that the eggplant had invited over to warm his own apartment later that night; then he'd introduced them.

He'd been shocked at hearing that the man was Sanji's manager from work. He'd been even more surprised when he realized that his dumb little eggplant had no idea he was being _ass_essed. It hadn't taken too much to guide him in the right direction, though, and now Zeff was stealing glances at his son's dumbfounded expression as the other man bent over to push the heavy weights into the back of the room.

Zeff waited for Sanji to catch himself. When the idiot did, it was with an awkward jerk of his entire body, eyes travelling away from Zoro and over to the kitchen. Zeff grinned and held eye contact, arching a brow in amusement as Sanji's face started to turn pink.

Sanji tore his eyes away, inhaling deeply before tapping his foot on the floor, ordering his boss around with a little more enthusiasm than he did around the staff. Zeff found the whole scene hilarious, smiling slightly as he slid the turkey in the oven and set the timer. These idiots made an excellent team.

It only took the duo two hours to put away the large ceramic decorations and boxes of booze. Zeff busied himself in the kitchen, glancing up occasionally to watch as the two of them carried a large ceramic Santa up the stairs, fingers slipping on the sleek paint and hands accidentally touching.

Zeff felt so terribly old watching the two men disappear up the stairs with the last of the decorations. If they weren't back down within ten minutes, he was going to have to go get the radio to drown out any noises he wasn't supposed to hear.

It was slightly disappointing when the two men came running down the stairs a few moments later, elbowing each other and trading insults and bizarre pet names like it was some sort of competition.

Zeff couldn't help but gloat silently. Sanji had always been creative with nicknames, but he'd never had anyone else but Zeff answer him this energetically. The old chef rubbed his temples and sighed, shaking his head as he listened to the two men move tables between them.

"LEFT! LEFT! MY LEFT MARIMO-BASTARD!" Sanji yelled across the hall, cigarette dangling from his lips. "Are you really this lost?" Zeff watched in amusement as the green haired man snarled with reddening ears.

"Just nod or something!" the older man huffed indignantly, moving the correct way and practically dragging Sanji along for the ride. The heavy wooden tables slowly aligned themselves in the correct order. Zeff was in the middle of preparing various salads, brow furrowed as he tried gauging out how much the addition to the dining table might want to eat.

"OI! Roronoa!" Zeff yelled out, both men stiffening instantly where they stood, table suspended between them. Sanji was staring wide eyed at him, but Zeff was glaring at the back of the green head. The head in question slowly turned, slightly awkward grimace in place.

"What is it… old man?" Zoro asked, and Zeff realized that he'd never been introduced properly. The boy didn't know his name! He couldn't hold back a nasty grin as he realized what an excellent opportunity this was to embarrass his eggplant.

"Don't get ahead of yourself you brat! 'Old man' is just for sons and son-in-laws!" The horrified reaction on Sanji's face did his old heart good, and the taller man looked absolutely speechless. "I need to know approximately how much potato salad you're going to eat."

"Uh… as much as I can without being rude?" Zoro suggested, Zeff couldn't help but laugh at this. This guy was a riot.

"A lot then." Zeff hummed to himself, adding to the serving and ignoring the awkwardness that hung over the restaurant or the embarrassed and furious glares Sanji shot him at every opportunity. He was doing this for the good of Sanji's love life, if he didn't encourage this, the blond would probably be sighing wistfully and gazing blankly at the floor for weeks.

Who knew, if this thing turned out as a long term thing, he might even get grandchildren before he was too old to hold them. Heavens knew none of the women Sanji had brought to the Baratie were contemplating a long term relationship.

Was it too much to ask for his son to have a good relationship? For him to be with someone who cared for him, respected him? He just wanted his boy to have someone who he could trust. Someone who wouldn't lie to him or let him get away with talking down about himself, or into that peculiar spiral of self-doubt he sometimes fell into.

Someone who'd make his Sanji a better person without changing him at all. Someone who brought out his best and loved him at his worst.

Zeff sighed and put the potato salad in the fridge and started the sauce. The two idiots in the main hall were lining up the last of the tables and the turkey would be ready for an early dinner soon enough.

He was getting tired of being introduced to a new woman every few months. Seeing the anxiousness or heartbreak in Sanji' face every time he came over for a drink to tell him the woman broke up with him was enough to make him sick. He hated seeing his boy struggle to fall in love, when it really should be effortless. STAYING in love was the struggle.

At least with a man Sanji would be able to be himself a little bit more. Zeff knew that none of those women would have left if they had known the _real_ Sanji, the man he was so proud to call his son he physically ached. He'd never say it out loud, but he had a feeling Sanji knew.

"Oi, old man." Sanji entered the kitchen, swiping one of the freshly washed aprons off the hook. "Anything that needs to be done in the kitchen?" Sanji asked as he checked on the turkey in the oven, humming happily to himself.

Zeff looked over the main hall; Zoro was arranging the last of the chairs at each table, carrying a large pile of them under his arm like they were nothing. The man was far enough out of earshot Zeff supposed.

"Oi, Sanji." Zeff turned around, looking at the blond who was watching him cautiously. "Have you asked him out yet?"

"WHAT? NO!" Sanji howled out in embarrassment, catching himself and glancing over to the main hall where Zoro was looking at the kitchen in confusion.

"Oi? Anything wrong curly?" Zoro pointed to the chairs. Zeff shook his head and waved the young man over, ignoring Sanji who yanked at his sleeve.

"Don't say anything or I swear to God I'm going to replace all your painkillers with tic tacs." Sanji's empty threats would have been move amusing if it hadn't been for the almost pained look in his eyes. Zeff sighed and brushed the young man's hand off, turning to the main hall where Zoro was approaching the kitchen window, covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"Anything you need old man?" Zoro asked with a slightly furrowed brow, glancing over at Sanji who shook his head and attempted to step in front of his father. Zeff frowned at this, how dare his youngster step in front of his father this way? No respect.

He stepped on Sanji's foot with his peg leg, and the blond fell forward in pain, biting his lip and yanking his foot away as he stumbled backwards. Zoro's eye widened slightly as he watched Sanji jump backwards and clutch his foot in agony, whimpering and red faced.

"You're stinking up my restaurant moss-head." Zeff huffed, waving his hand rudely in front of his face. Zoro turned to look at him in confusion, looking down at his arms as pulling at his slightly sweat stained shirt.

"What am I supposed to-"

"Go shower." Zeff pointed up the stairs, and he heard Sanji push at least three pots and two pans onto the floor behind him. His son was so embarrassing sometimes, he only mentioned the man naked for God's sakes, nothing to trash the kitchen over.

"I-" Zoro's brows rose as he shrugged, looking around. "Alright, where?"

"You can use the shower in Sanji's room." Zeff said without a single shred of remorse. Zoro turned to look at the blond behind Zeff, and Zeff did the same. Sanji's eyes were slightly wide and he was staring at Zeff in a mixture of disbelief, terror and awkwardness.

"You have some clean towels Sanji?" Zeff said as he gently tried to shake his foolish eggplant from his apparent stupor. How was he supposed to work with this? He'd already gotten the man to agree on stripping naked and getting soaked in Sanji's bathroom; and the blond was still looking at him like he did something _bad_.

"S-sure." Sanji shook his head, walking over to exit the kitchen. "Come with me marimo." Zeff watched the two men walk up the stairs, turning down the heat of his sauce to a low shimmer. Hopefully his idiot son would seize the chance and join the other man, both of them were clearly thinking about it.

He cleared his throat and Zoro's improper gaze averted instantly, the two of them disappearing up the stairs to Sanji's bedroom. There. He'd done all he could for now, maybe Zoro would act on his desires and make the first move. If Sanji rejected the man's advances by this point even Zeff wouldn't be able to salvage the situation.

With every minute that passed without Sanji returning downstairs, Zeff's mood got lighter. If those two worked up an appetite he might have to add to the soup. Zeff walked over to the mess of pots and pans on the floor, groaning as he picked them up.

"I'll help old-fart." Sanji said causally from behind him, walking to Zeff and barely dodging the pan swung for his head.

"W-WHAT!? CRAZY OLD FART-"

"Why are you DOWN HERE?" Zeff slammed the pan to the table, huffing in annoyance and rubbing his poor aching temples. He was too old for this shit.

"Where else should I be?" Sanji grimaced, lighting himself a cigarette despite know Zeff didn't approve of cigarettes in the kitchen. "Are you seriously expecting me to join Zoro in the shower?"

Zeff stared at Sanji for a moment. Trying to figure out where exactly his plan had failed. Sanji returned his intense stare and no matter how much Zeff went over the events of the day, he didn't find a single flaw in his actions. It had all been movie-perfect.

"Don't you _want_ to have sex with that man?" Zeff eventually asked, soft and concerned, looking at Sanji slightly confused. He was starting to worry there was something wrong with his son, perhaps he had some bad experiences before that were scaring him away?

"Don't use that tone old man." Sanji said guiltily, kicking at nothing on the tiled floor of the kitchen. "There's nothing wrong. I just-"

"Just? If I personally guarantee that the man wants you naked-"

"It's not just about rejection. I just don't think it's a good idea. Zoro's my boss." Sanji said sincerely, pulling one of the kitchen chairs over to sit on them. "If this works out great, then I won't be able to work without…" Sanji serviced his cigarette into the sink, cheeks flushed. "-without being … hard all the time."

Zeff rolled his eyes. "If that is the worst-"

"And if it goes BADLY." Sanji interrupted, looking at his cigarette burn to avoid eye contact. "I might get fired for having sex with my boss… or worse, ZORO might get fired."

Zeff paused at that, studying the expression on Sanji's face. There was that wistful little smile on his face that had broken Zeff's heart a thousand times before. It was Sanji's 'giving up' smile. It was one of the top three Zeff despaired seeing on his face, right next to heartbreak and fear.

"I have no idea _who_ Zoro is." Sanji said with a soft heartbreaking chuckle. "I don't know why he works at that store. I don't know if he really needs the money or if he can't get a job anywhere else. I can't risk his job just because I would REALLY like him to f-" Sanji cut himself off awkwardly, cigarette between his lips.

Zeff didn't say anything. Watching his son give up on the one person he'd really been genuinely interested in, for possibly the first time in his entire life, enraged Zeff. At the same time he could see Sanji's reasoning. But the idiot was doing the one thing he ALWAYS did, and Zeff wasn't about to let it slide this time.

Sanji stood up, shaking his head and breathing smoke into the air as he opened the window. "So you can stop trying to get me into bed with Zoro old man." Sanji chuckled slightly, shaking his head. "I don't know him well enough to expect him to risk-"

"Tell me Sanji," Zeff said with a grumble, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at his son. He tried to keep the annoyance from his voice, but he felt some of it seep into his son's name. "-how old is this Zoro?"

"He's 24-"

"And how old are you?"

"I'm 20, but I'll be 21 soon and it really isn't such a big-"

"I'm just trying to figure out where you came to the shitty conclusion that he needs your mothering." Zeff stomped his peg leg into the tiles, watching Sanji's brow furrow in confusion.

"What are you-"

"You do this stupid shit all the time. You think that you need to look out for everyone." Zeff started, Sanji bristled in annoyance at that, opening his mouth to argue but Zeff held up a hand to stop him.

"Sanji, if someone else wants to risk something for your sake, you don't have to constantly bend out of the way in fear of costing them something."

"But-" Sanji began, and Zeff walked up to him, catching him by the jacket and pulling the taller young man down to look him in the eyes. Sanji might be taller, but he was always going to be his little brat.

"You're worth it."

Sanji paused at that, awkward as he tried pulling away from Zeff's frowning expression. The older man wasn't about to let his brat go though, fisting the fabric hard enough to crease. He had to get this through his thick skull. He constantly put others ahead of him. He wasn't a chef because he rushed to his old man's sickbed. He'd refused himself so much throughout his entire life. He constantly gave praise but refused to receive it unless it was about food.

He'd raised his boy proper, but he'd turned out a little too selfless for his own good. Egotistical at times, but usually it was just boasting. He carried everyone else's interest first and didn't want anyone to sacrifice anything for his sake. He'd refused to allow his former lovers to attend contests or such if it clashed with something they already had planned.

_'A day out with your friend is much more important than my martial art's tournament.'_

_'It's just an audition, no need to reschedule your manicure'_

_'My ribs will heal fine, no need for you to skip going to the beach because of me'_

"I'm pretty sure that a grown man knows exactly what he's willing to give up." Zeff said in a calm tone, letting go of Sanji's shirt. If Sanji would only realize that he should have someone that thought he was worth _dying _for. If only he'd just value himself more.

It pained his old heart to see Sanji suffer so much for the sake of some imaginary burden no one asked him to carry. Sanji slowly rose up, inhaling deeply and staring at Zeff, eyes slightly wide and looking rather disturbed.

"Old man… Zeff- " Sanji's voice was low and slightly trembling, cigarette burning up completely between his fingers, forgotten. Zeff was really hoping that his idiot son would think about what he said, or at least contemplate it for a minute, or even just a second.

"Oi! Curly!" Zoro came down the stairs, wiping his green hair on the towel. "Your soap smells like shit." He wasn't wearing a shirt, wet skin on display as the man walked closer. Large jagged scar across the man's muscular chest.

Sanji didn't seem to be in any state to speak, so Zeff decided to bail his idiot out this one last time.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Zeff huffed, walking close to get a better look at the scar. "You have one hell of a scar right there. Are you a criminal?"

"Not a criminal. Swordsman." Zoro shrugged, turning around and looking at the hall. "I couldn't put my sweaty shirt back on after washing, so I figured I'd just wear my sweater."

Zeff watched as the man turned around, walking of the heap of black fabric that was his discarded hoodie. Zeff ran his eyes over the man's muscular back - there wasn't a single scar on there. Impressive.

Sanji was probably thinking about something else, judging from the paleness off his face and the way he tried sucking on a long dead cigarette absent mindedly. Zeff didn't have to think very long to realize where all that blood was located. Zoro pulled the hoodie on, shaking his head and tossing the towel onto a chair.

"Bring that chair over here." Zeff waved, calling across the room. "We're finishing up dinner and I think you've earned that drink."

The man was over with the chair within a minute, approval on his face as he slammed the chair by the window and grabbed one of the glasses by the bar. Zeff couldn't help but smile at this; it wasn't going to be hard to find a good gift for his _future _ son-in-law. He handed one of the half-finished bottles over, nodding in approval when the man read the label carefully.

"This is all you get before dinner." Zeff said with a hum, pulling Sanji over and positioning him at the soup pot right in front of Zoro as he walked over to check on the desert.

"This is good booze." Zoro's approving tone did an old man's heart good. At least Zeff was now certain Zoro recognized quality in both booze and men.

"-and my soap does not smell like shit marimo!" Sanji hissed over the edge of the half wall. "It's not my fault an idiot like you has no idea how tropical raspberry and lemon smells like!"

* * *

to be continued!

Thanks to MistressHasty who beta'd this!

/oh god it's so much fun to write Zeff this chapter was gonna kill meeeeeeeee./


	6. Chapter 6

**chapter** **6**

* * *

Sanji wasn't stupid; he knew exactly what Zeff was doing. Stirring the sauce was more of a formality to get him to stand in front of Zoro. He knew the old man could perfectly handle multitasking in the kitchen, and he also knew for certain that Zeff would prefer that Sanji prepare the dessert.

Yet here he was, stirring the brown and heavenly smelling sauce and trying not to get an aneurism from the whirlpool of emotions he had been sucked in the last ten minutes.

Zeff had dropped a bomb on him. He'd just been shown a part of himself he didn't realize he had and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to deal with the revelation. How long had he been tormenting his old man like this?

Sanji had seen the hurt in his old man's eyes, there had been more emotion in Zeff's voice than he'd ever heard before.

_'You're worth it'_

Was he really? Wasn't his old man just biased? Well, he was above average looking he supposed, his eyebrows were bizarre though and he was rather thin. He was a good cook, and that was definitely a plus for most people. Then again, he worked as a cashier at a store, had a shit apartment and just enough money to live comfortably and add a little something to his savings every month.

"Oi! Cook!"

Suddenly Zoro's fingers reached into his line of view, snapping loudly over the sauce pot Sanji was staring intently into. Jolted instantly out of his thoughts, Sanji glanced up at the man who had two days ago just been his annoying, yet good looking, boss.

"I'm not a cook." Sanji frowned at the man, trying to ignore how the corner of Zoro's lips was curling upwards in amusement. Brow quirked in disbelief, the green haired man withdrew his hand and poured himself another glass of the booze Zeff had handed over.

"Yes you are." The infuriating man argued, taking a sip of his alcohol. Sanji stirred angrily in the pot, narrowing his eyes on Zoro who didn't budge.

"I'm not a cook or a chef or anything! I don't have my certificate remember?" Sanji hissed, feeling a bit insulted that Zoro would use something so personal to tease him with. He may have told him that when he was a little buzzed, but he had thought Zoro was above using these things against him.

"I don't give a shit if you have a certificate or not. You studied all those years, right? You love cooking, right?" Zoro's smirk disappeared around the edge of his glass, brow furrowed. "That makes you a cook."

"I'm not legally ALLOWED to title myself as one moss-brain. I don't have the papers." Sanji sighed in exasperation, rubbing at his temples as he stared into the bubbling pot. He could hear Zeff snort rudely behind him, but he wasn't sure he could face the old fart right now.

"Papers aren't going to change what you know, though. You'll still know the exact same things you do already." Zoro pointed out with a scowl, finishing his glass and placing it on the table. "You'll just have papers to prove it."

"That's not how it works." Sanji argued in annoyance, whisking a little harder with a trained motion of his wrist. Zoro's eyes fell on his hand and watched it for a moment, his face softening as he seemed to be deeply contemplating something. Sanji rolled his eyes. Zoro wasn't winning THIS argument no matter what bizarre shit he came up with.

"Doesn't your hand get tired?" Zoro's question came so out of the blue Sanji instantly stopped moving, blinking as he looked from the man's serious and curious expression down to his own hand. The change of subject was so abrupt and random that Sanji didn't manage to answer before Zeff cleared his throat from the back of the kitchen.

"Chefs have plenty of stamina in their hands and wrists. They need to be able to keep a nice even pace on their work after all." Sanji's brow furrowed as he looked over to his old man, not sure why he had such a bad feeling about this sentence. Why was Zeff looking at him like that? And why was Zoro suddenly so quiet-

There was another of those obscene quirks of Zeff's eyebrows and the innuendo came flooding over Sanji like a tidal wave of embarrassment.

"SHITTY OLD FART!" Sanji growled, attempting to kick his old man in the head for embarrassing him like that. He'd been doing nothing else all day! It wasn't fair! Zeff easily dodged, barely moving his head as he turned back to the dessert he was making.

"Eehh? Sounds nice." Zoro's tone was borderline lecherous. "Are you like one of those TV cooks who can hand whip cream in a minute?"

Sanji's blood was racing back and forth from his groin and face. He was pretty sure Zoro was making a sexual joke, but if it was a double entendre about the nature of the "cream" or the time it took to produce it, he wasn´t sure. Just the words "whipped cream" coming from Zoro's mouth was sexual enough to make Sanji glad his lower half was hidden from view behind a counter.

It really didn't matter what kind of 'cream' Zoro was referring to, Sanji would still like some of it spread all over him. Sanji frowned, rolling his eyes at the joke and trying to coax some of his blood back up to his brain. He couldn't talk dirty like that with his old man standing RIGHT behind him damn it!

"How long it takes depends on the cream really." Sanji said awkwardly, not sure if he wanted to encourage this metaphor. He wasn't trying to, but everything he said sounded so damn sexual to him now that his mind was in the gutter. "-and the method."

Zoro simply looked amused, pouring himself the rest of the bottle and placing it to the side. Did this count as flirting? Yes, this was definitely flirting. Sanji watched Zoro roll the amber liquid around in the glass, his heart finally regaining some blood to beat as Sanji calmed himself down. Flirting was okay. They were both adults.

"So that huge bag you sometimes bring to work has swords in it?" Sanji changed the subject in hopes of getting something resembling normalcy to the conversation and maybe even getting to know Zoro a little better. "Is that even legal? Weapons in a workplace?"

"It's not." Zoro hummed as he took a sip of the glass. "But there's no one to call me out on it. I'm not gonna use then against anyone, it would just waste a lot of extra workout time to go back home to get them and then all the way to the Dojo."

"So you ARE a criminal?" Zeff said loudly from the back of the kitchen, and Zoro made an adorably awkward grimace that made Sanji's throat constrict. No. Zoro was not allowed to make those expressions AND all the sexy ones.

"Not really old man. I haven't been caught breaking any rules yet." Zoro explained, earning himself an amused snort from the other side of the kitchen. "Are you going to kick me out now?"

"We feed everyone in this restaurant. Even criminals." Zeff wasn't looking at Zoro, and the green haired man glanced from the veteran chef to Sanji; who shrugged awkwardly. "I might spit in your food for good measure though." Zeff's tone was playful and Zoro's head tilted suspiciously as if he was trying to figure out if the old man was being serious or not.

"If you hadn't noticed, the old fart is senile-" Sanji was interrupted by a spatula to the head, the metal smacking loudly on the top of his head.

"RESPECT YOUR ELDERS." Zeff groused and poked Sanji's back hard enough for the blond to arch his back away from the finger comically. Zoro laughed into his glass, almost spilling the drink over himself. Sanji was starting to think Zeff was actively TRYING to embarrass him.

After Zoro wiped some alcohol from his chin with a swipe of his thumb and a lick that HAD to be against some sort of public decency law, Sanji managed to get the subject back on track.

"So are you a competitive swordsman then?" Sanji asked casually, wondering if he could find footage of Zoro in action somewhere online. He'd really like to see that. "Any titles yet?"

"Well-" Zoro said casually, putting down his glass, smug grin on his lips. He leant back in his seat confidently, his one eye sparkling with teasing mirth. "I won the nationals this year." Sanji waited for the punch line, but Zoro just gave him an egotistical eyebrow arch and didn't seem to be joking.

"National Champ- are you SERIOUS?" Sanji blinked, looking Zoro over and furrowing his brow. How could he not know this? Did no one at work know this? "Where the hell do you find the time to train for something like that?"

"I've been training since I was a kid. I started competing when I was around your age." Zoro sat up and smiled subtly, gesturing to Sanji with a wave of his hand as he spoke. "This is my second time winning the nationals."

It was strange to see Zoro so outspoken, talking about something that he was clearly passionate about, his face looked younger and his tone was more casual, his voice seeming to change with each word and the left corners of his mouth always seeking up slightly in an uneven smile as he spoke.

"So did you get that giant scar on your chest in a match?" Sanji was curious; half hoping Zoro would take off his sweater again. He'd barely been able to enjoy the view of Zoro's firm pecks and almost fake looking washboard abs because of the large white scar cutting its way across Zoro's torso.

"Yeah." Zoro took his drink and finished it, tucking the empty bottle into a corner. "It was during my first nationals. Mihawk was there so I challenged him because I had the opportunity."

Both Zeff and Sanji turned to look at the man, looking comically similar as both blonds stared at the green haired man.

"Mihawk?" Zeff said and his brow furrowed, mustache twitching. "I know of him; he's the world's greatest swordsman."

"He's my goal. I'm not going to rest until I beat him." Zoro stated confidently, determination settling in his face. Sanji bit the inside of his cheek, determined looked really, really good on Zoro. Zeff huffed something and turned back to the dessert, putting it in the oven as he pulled out the turkey.

"Make yourself useful and bring the cutlery to the table over there." Zeff gestured to three sets of plates and cutlery on the counter next to Zoro, holding the turkey tray. The man spent a whole minute staring at the turkey in Zeff's hands before doing as he was told.

The moment Zoro was relatively out of earshot, Zeff joined Sanji with the bowl needed for the sauce.

"Sanji. I'm being very serious right now so you better pay some shitty attention." Zeff said in a solemn tone, pushing the saucer into Sanji's hands. "I approve of him."

"Oi, shitty geezer-"

"I'm being serious eggplant." Zeff glanced up, and Sanji watched Zoro set the table the wrong way. "-it would be a waste, and I'm not just talking about the ass anymore. He's going places in life; just like you."

"Oi, Zeff... I told you-"

"Listen to me for once in your miserable, stubborn, eggplant life." Zeff's mustache stood out horizontally from his face, making his expression seem even more intense. "I know you want to stay here and help your old man out forever, but you're meant for something greater."

Sanji grimaced; he didn't want to have this discussion right now. Not over the holidays, and definitely not with Zoro in the building. Both he and Zeff had explosive tempers, and arguing about Sanji's place in life and what he should and should not do always ended in a shouting match from opposite sides of the building.

"But-"

"This restaurant is MY dream, not yours you shitty brat." Zeff frowned, putting a bowl of salad into Sanji hands forcefully and pushing him out of the kitchen, in the direction of Zoro. "Go find your _own_ damn dream."

The green haired man had finished arranging all the tableware incorrectly and was looking pleased with himself. Sanji sighed as he walked across the hall, holding up the bowl of salad as he got closer. Sanji figured that Zoro might still be feeling talkative, so he risked getting to know him a little better.

Or, worst case scenario, he'd maybe have some blackmail material.

"So if you're a National champion and shit like that," Sanji began, placing the salad on the table and lighting himself a cigarette. Zoro turned to look at him, seeming content with carrying on the line of conversation. "Then why are you still working at that store? Shouldn't you..." _be a model with a body like that? _"... have some sponsors or something?"

"I... have been offered that." Zoro seemed rather uncomfortable at that, brow furrowing slightly as he scratched his jaw absentmindedly, rattling the three earrings. "But I turned them down."

"What? Why?" Sanji huffed, confused why anyone would turn down a deal like that, especially if they worked in retail. Anything was better than retail, right? As long as it wasn't fast food. There was nothing in the world that could get Sanji to work in the fast food industry. He turned to walk to the kitchen to get more REAL food, nodding Zoro along "Did they ask you to do something weird?"

"No real reason, it's just a pain. I'm not much for being photographed and do advertisements. I'm a swordsman." Zoro followed Sanji to the kitchen, where Zeff was placing various bowls on the counter for them to ferry over.

"You're an idiot." Sanji huffed, blowing smoke over his shoulder as he picked up two bowls and left the big turkey tray for Zoro to carry. "What kind of moss-head wouldn't want to get paid for doing what he loved?"

"It's my choice curly brow. Mind your own business." Zoro held the food up cautiously, staring at it for a second before he followed Sanji to the table. Zeff was following them with the drinks, glasses clattering in his hand.

Zoro placed the food on the center of the table, admiring it for a moment. "This looks like something from a movie."

"Movie food is usually plastic, this is real and it's getting cold brat. Take a seat and eat already." Zeff snorted at the compliment, grabbing Zoro's shoulder and pushing him into a seat. Sanji took his own seat across from Zoro and looked up at his old man, who was looking all too pleased with himself.

"Same to you geezer." Sanji frowned, and Zeff took his seat at the end of the table, both blondes watching as Zoro started piling food on his plate with the self-restraint of a five year old at a cake buffet.

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Thanks to **MistressHasty** for being the beta for this story!


	7. Chapter 7

**Small miracles chapter 7**

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Zeff was sitting at the table, watching Sanji try as hard as he could not to flirt with his green haired boss. He wasn't sure if it was because the man was older or his manager, but Sanji simply didn't seem able to get comfortable with simple flirting.

Zoro, who was Zeff's prime candidate for a son-in-law, was stuffing his face, watching Sanji as the blond explained some detail about the stuffing balancing precariously on his fork. It was obvious the swordsman didn't have any interest in how exactly the stuffing was made, but rather his attention was focused on Sanji's enthusiastic hand gestures and wide smile.

With a twist of a bottle cap, Zeff poured himself a drink, trying to get rid of the sugary taste in his mouth from the saccharine scene before him. He extended his hand, tilting the bottle slightly in Zoro's direction. One dark eye glanced over, the corner of the swordman's mouth rising slightly as he held up his glass for Zeff to fill it up.

Sanji finally started eating; shooting Zeff a suspicious look from his seat. Zeff clinked the bottle to Zoro's glass when he'd topped it off, then placed the bottle slightly outside of the swordsman's reach. There was silence for a moment as Zoro took a drink while the clatter of tableware filled the large dining hall of the almost empty restaurant.

Zeff had a bad feeling about Sanji right now. The eggplant had been avoiding proper eye contact since their earlier 'argument' about the blonde's lacking sense of self-worth. The older man frowned into his glass, eyes narrowed on his son. He had a feeling Sanji was more caught up in the fact Zeff had been hurt than what he'd actually been telling him.

As his father, Zeff knew exactly what Sanji needed, even if the blond didn't know it himself. What his baby eggplant needed was motivation, something to drive him to be a little selfish. If that motivation happened to be a person or even just sex, Zeff didn't care. All he knew was that Zoro's attitude was contagious and Sanji had to catch it.

At this point Zeff was contemplating sending Sanji to get something just to have a moment alone with Zoro. He could persuade the man to be more brazen or he _could_ just come straight out at him and offer to trade him Sanji for two goats and a sack of potatoes or something. Young people today seemed to have such complicated ways of coming out and telling someone they wanted to fuck.

"You said you'd been training swordsmanship since you were a brat, so I'm guessing it runs in your family?" Zeff said conversationally, punctuating his question by stuffing a large serving of potato salad in his mouth, avoiding his mustache as he could. Sanji spared him a suspicious glance.

"Yeah, I was raised in a dojo." Zoro swallowed before answering casually, something Zeff was glad the man did. It would be bad if he'd have to start kicking manners into him right away. It WAS Christmas after all. "But there is only so much you can learn at home. If I wanted to get serious I had to move on and make my own name."

Sanji glanced almost fearfully at Zeff at that, and tempted as the old man was to point to the green haired man and say _'SEE?'_ to his son, Zeff held his tongue. Sanji knew exactly what Zeff thought of this, and it was clear from the awkward expression on his face that the blond wasn't about to argue.

"I'd have thought someone who'd earned himself a title wouldn't be working at a store." Zeff decided to change the subject before Zoro caught on to the tension. "Why aren't you on a sponsorship with your face on magazines? Is it because of your scars?"

"I already asked him that old man." Sanji said irritated, swallowing his food before pouring himself a drink. Zeff huffed in return and Zoro simply looked amused.

"Well I wasn't listening to your flirtatious banter, so I'd like to hear it for myself." Zeff pointed out, raising his spoon and gesturing to Sanji with it. The blond stiffened slightly and grimaced awkwardly. Zeff continued casually, intent on punishing Sanji for his disrespect. "So tell me why you're not a model or spokesman or something."

Zoro took his time finishing his mouthful, apparently contemplating a good answer. Zeff busied himself with eating while he waited; glancing at the clock to make sure he wasn't over baking the dessert.

"There's no real reason. I'm just not a big fan of the whole fame package." Zoro said casually, shrugging slightly. "I've had offers but they've all been... annoying."

"They want you to pose naked or something?" Zeff suggested and Sanji started coughing uncontrollably, drawing in strained breaths and reaching out for the water pitcher and a large glass. Zeff didn't bat an eye while his son struggled for his breath, watching Zoro who glanced between them in confusion.

"Well some have offered me money for that." Zoro admitted and Zeff was sure he heard Sanji's coughing become stained with a flow of curses; face and ears red in embarrassment. The green haired man poured some water into Sanji's glass helpfully. "That's not why I became a swordsman though, so it doesn't interest me."

Sanji finished his glass of water, taking an unsteady experimental breath before slamming the glass into the table and glaring at Zeff, red faced. "Damn old fart! What do you think you are talking about over the dinner table?"

"Naked people." Zeff said casually, and Zoro started laughing, almost suffocating on his drink for the second time that night. Sanji growled and shook his head, blush on his cheeks as he took over the conversation.

For the remainder of the meal, Zeff didn't get a chance to ask as single question without his excellent innuendos being rephrased into something more child friendly. Damn the brat, Zeff shouldn't have raised him so witty and quick to catch on.

"Well eggplant, it's time to get the lemon pie from the oven." Zeff said as he finished his drink, leaning forward on the table to look at Sanji. "Go on."

Sanji frowned, glancing from Zeff to Zoro before he shrugged. "Alright then, Zoro, help out or you won't get any" Sanji froze half way up from his seat and hastily added; "-dessert, it's lemon meringue pie."

"You have to whip some cream Eggplant, get Zoro to help you with that." The tense jerk of Sanji's body was just mildly entertaining to the old man, who filled his glass up. Effectively robbed of both his chance to be alone with Zoro and to make a sexual joke of what Sanji had said earlier, Zeff grumbled and leant back in his chair.

The whole meal had passed by without as much as a Freudian slip despite Zeff's every attempt to redirect the dinner conversation somewhere sexual. He figured it was time to bring out some of the big guns. He narrowed his eyes on the ceiling and doorways, wondering if there was any mistletoe left from the party the day before.

He glanced around the hall, looking through every corner and frowning when he noticed every last decorative mistletoe gone. Either Sanji had found time to foil his future plans earlier, or during the party the night before his staff had yanked them all down to prank each other. It HAD been strange to see Patty and Carne kissing.

Zeff sighed slightly, shaking his head as he tried to think of another plan. His stupid eggplant just needed a little push. That was all. Just a small little nudge in the right direction. Sanji turned and looked at him, glancing up to the ceiling and then smiled subtly around his cigarette.

_The damn brat, _Zeff huffed in annoyance, realizing that Sanji had had _indeed _made sure there was no mistletoe to be found. When exactly he'd had the time to do this, Zeff had no idea.

Well, if the eggplant wanted to fight dirty, then Zeff had decades of experience his innocent little brat did certainly NOT have. He smirked, and Sanji paled slightly, turning back to whipping cream for the pie currently cooling on the counter.

The next hour was spent playing a game of cat and mouse and eating dessert. Sanji was making sure that Zeff and Zoro never had a single moment alone together and Zeff kept implying that was his goal. In fact, Sanji's almost paranoid interest in what Zoro was saying and all of the active questions he was using to prevent Zeff from asking anything embarrassing were doing wonders for the atmosphere.

Zoro, the poor fool, had clearly never had lemon meringue pie before. Granted it was rather hard to make, it was a dessert that not many people bothered making in their own home unless it came from a package. It had been amusing to see the man take a small amount onto his plate, clearly just to be polite.

The green haired fool had either decided he'd eaten way too much to fit dessert in or wasn't a fan of sweets. Zeff had a feeling it was the man's lack of sweet tooth that caused his modest portion, since the moment the man took a bite, his eye opened wide in surprise and he stared at the food like it had started talking to him.

It had been amusing after that, the slices had grown in size and Zeff was certain that half the pie had at some point been on the swordsman's plate. It did an old chef's heart good to see someone so genuinely enjoying their food, it reminded him why became a chef in the first place.

When the three of them were done, there wasn't a single slice left of the pie, and Zoro seemed to be teetering blissfully on the edge of a food coma. Zeff added some alcohol in the man's glass, hoping to give the man the final push that would prevent him from going home and forcing him to spend the night in Sanji's old bed (preferably with the bratty eggplant occupying it as well.) Zeff had earplugs in his nightstand that he hadn't been using since the neighbors got rid of their eternally barking dog.

Zoro finished the story of his first day working in retail and brought the glass up to his lips before he jerked in his seat and put the glass down. The room fell silent as Zoro pulled his cell phone from his pocket, frowning at the screen for a second before grumbling something and pressing a button.

"What?" Zoro's voice was annoyed and he glared down at the glass in front of him, running a finger along the edge. There were some strangled, muffled sounds from the other end of the line and Zoro's eyebrow twitched slightly, finger retracting from the glass edge to rub at his temple.

"My Christmas was merry until you called." Zoro said tiredly, looking at the clock right above the kitchen. "But it's almost midnight. Can't you pull him free yourself?"

There was loud screeching yelling from the other end of the phone line, Zoro help the phone away from his ear until it passed, frowning as he rolled his one functional eye. It didn't have the same effect when it wasn't a set. Sanji was looking more and more disheartened as the one sided conversation dragged on, and Zeff couldn't watch the joy fade from Sanji's eyes without taking a large drink from his glass.

"Fine. No need to scream." Zoro sighed into the phone, taking a drink from his glass. "Later." He hung up with an annoyed huff. He looked up, shaking his head apologetically, clearly trying to suppress a small smile. "A friend of mine got himself stuck in a chimney."

Both blonds exchanged incredulous looks before turning back to Zoro, eyebrows arching questioningly in perfect unison, their expression practically mirrors of each other. Zoro laughed at that, shaking his head.

"I'm not lying. I actually do have a friend stupid enough to get stuck in a chimney, and I have to help pull him free." Zoro said with a grimace, finishing his drink and placing the glass on the table. He didn't seem eager to leave though, and Zeff's moustache twitched suspiciously.

"Well, you're awfully calm about it." Zeff pointed out with a frown, and Zoro smirked absent mindedly.

"It happens all the time, well, not with _chimneys_ specifically-" Zoro laughed softly, tucking his phone in his pocket. "He'll live even if he has to wait a little; he deserves to freeze his ass off for getting himself into that mess."

"Well it wouldn't be good for you to be hung over at work tomorrow anyway." Sanji sighed and stood up; Zoro followed him and dusted some crumbs off his pants. Sanji faked a smile, nodding Zoro over as he went to get his coat.

"I don't get hung over." Zoro's tone was a little disheartened. He had barely followed Sanji, halfway across the hall before the blond returned with his coat. Zeff could see the reluctance in the man's movements as he put on his coat and walked to the front door.

Sanji was seeing him off, the idiot. Zeff frowned in annoyance, getting to his feet and walking towards them. Zoro was tying his boots on, fingers moving slowly on the strings. Sanji stood on the top of the short steps above Zoro, looking down at him tie his shoe laces with the most pained expression on his face.

"Thanks for dinner Cook. Same to you old man." Zoro said as he finished tying off his shoe, standing still for a moment without making for the door. "It wasn't half bad. I can see how this place turns a profit."

"Shut your ugly face moss brain." Sanji snorted, no venom in his tone as he buried his hands in his pockets, looking to the side rather than Zoro. "It was the best food you've ever eaten and you know it."

Zeff had had enough. Taking one extra step towards them, he hooked a peg leg in front of Sanji's ankle and pat Sanji on the back hard enough to trip him forward. Zeff watched calmly as his son fell face first down the steps and onto the man below.

Flailing slightly and catching himself on Zoro's shoulders for balance, he bumped into Zoro harshly enough to knock him backwards a single step, the swordman's hands instinctively coming up to Sanji's sides to steady him.

The room was silent as Sanji's face was buried in Zoro's chest, completely hidden by the jacket and black sweater. If it hadn't been for the burning red at the tip of his ears, no one would have known Sanji was blushing. For almost a full second, neither man moved and Zeff turned around; confident he'd finally succeeded.

Now all he had to do was leave them alone for a moment and they'd work the rest out by themselves.

"So. See you at work tomorrow?" Sanji's voice was slightly hoarse and Zeff paused in his step, glancing over his shoulder to glare at his idiot son walking his love interest out the door.

"Yeah." Zoro's reply was slightly apathetic, Zeff was at the verge of screaming at both of them to 'fuck already'. He could scarcely believe what he was seeing, Sanji was ACTUALLY allowing the man to leave. He´d had enough. This was too much, he needed a drink.

Zeff ignored the sounds of half-hearted goodbyes and stormed over to the bar, picking up the bottle and ignored a glass altogether as he took a drink. He'd done ALL he could. He'd literally - physically - shoved them together and given Sanji every chance he needed to make any effort to take what he wanted.

The front door shut and Sanji locked it. Resting his forehead against the cold wood tiredly, he rummaged through his pockets for his cigarettes. Zeff's beard stood horizontally from his face, eyebrow twitching as he scrutinized Zoro walking down the stairs outside from a clear view through the window. He watched as Zoro turned around to look at the door.

Zeff held his breath. If the bastard knocked and made a move now, there was still hope. Sanji was still resting against the door, lighting himself a cigarette with heart wrenchingly slow movements. The swordsman outside took one step to the front door, and paused. Zeff watched Zoro answer the phone as Sanji pocketed his cigarettes.

With one last look at the door, Zoro rubbed the back of his neck and turned on his heel, walking away into the snowfall while talking on the phone.

Zeff's heart sank and he took another drink. Sanji tucked his hands in his pockets along with his cigarettes, not sparing Zeff a glance as he turned to walk to his old room, staring at the floor with distant unseeing eyes and shoulders slumped in resignation.

Knowing that arguing at this point would only bring about another temperamental screaming contest that would upset the neighbors at this hour, the older man held his tongue. Zeff bit back any comments that tried to make their way past his lips as he tried to get the angry shaking to leave his body.

Once again Zeff watched his son, the person he loved the most, disappear up the stairs in silence. He took another drink, trying to count the times his son had marched up those stairs heartbroken. It was possibly over a dozen times, but never had his steps sounded so melancholic. Never had his face looked so terribly hopeless.

Zeff's every nerve was strung and he glanced to the window, perhaps he could follow that green haired bastard and drag him back to the Baratie? Zeff huffed at his own stupid idea, it had started snowing rather hard, all footsteps would be covered and Zeff had no idea where he could have gone.

How was he supposed to fix this? How was a father supposed to deal with his son breaking his own heart again and again?

Zeff slammed the bottle on the table, stomping his way up the staircase to the top floor. He'd had enough. He didn't want to see that expression ever again. This was the last time. He didn't bother knocking when he came to Sanji's door. The blond had no doubt already heard him coming down the hall and Zeff was in no mood to be polite.

He twisted the doorknob and shouldered the door open roughly, taking a step into the room and glaring at Sanji, who was smoking by the window. The snowfall outside was heavy the window was open wide, cold air flowing into the room and Sanji's breath was a mix of cigarette smoke and warm air.

"I don't want to hear it old man." Sanji said softly, blowing smoke out through the open window. "It's better this way."

"Don't give me your shit excuses eggplant." Zeff snarled, crossing his arms in the doorway. "How is both of you being unhappy better? You like him and he likes you; it's not complicated."

"I told you-" Sanji began testily, crushing his cigarette as he turned to Zeff. The old man stomped down his peg leg.

"Yes. I know. You think he'll get fired and hate you for it. You assume it's not going to work out in the end and make your job hard for both of you." Zeff said casually and Sanji jolted in place, in slight shock of apparently having his mind read. "You think you're too inexperienced."

"That's…" Sanji started, hesitation in his tone. His argument trailed off as his eyes glanced outside the window.

_"I didn't raise a coward." _

Zeff turned on his heel and slammed the door after him as he left. Stomping down the hallway to his own room, he left Sanji standing speechless and wide eyed with his cigarette balancing precariously between his fingers.

Maybe he'd been too harsh? Zeff sighed and sat down on his bed, rubbing at his temples as he tried to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted was to make Sanji even more miserable, he wasn't sure he could take much more of that without losing his mind.

There wasn't much he could do about it now. Zeff shook his head slightly, his leg was aching and his nerves were fried. Sanji was going to be the death of him one day, he was sure he'd aged twice as fast because of the damn brat.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to go to sleep without calming down first, Zeff tried to make his way as quietly as possible past Sanji's room to get the remaining alcohol. He paused when he noticed Sanji's door was slightly ajar, possibly bounced open when Zeff slammed it closed earlier.

Through the crack Zeff could see Sanji sitting on his bed, rolling something small and silvery in his palm as he smoked, expression determined and thoughtful. It had been much too long since Zeff saw that look in Sanji's eyes, the drive to overcome a challenge.

Zeff retreated back to his room without a sound. He had nothing to worry about; his little eggplant would be fine.

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Thanks to **mistressHasty **for being the beta for this chapter!

I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Small Miracles chapter 8**

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**This chapter contains mature content. **

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Work.

Sanji had been coming to work almost every weekday since summer. He had almost been working there half a year. He'd literally unlocked his locker and put on the rough and black colored work shirt over a hundred times.

But today, Sanji was nervous. No, more like excited. He knew he was five minutes early to clock in, plus he'd already smoked two cigarettes outside the store in an attempt to calm himself down. Sanji rummaged around in his bag, pulling out the shirt Zoro had left at the Baratie last night.

It had been on the counter next to the sink, taunting him with visions of Zoro taking it off and using his shower. Sanji placed the shirt in his locker, determined to return it to Zoro at the end of the work day and ask him out. Yes. That would show his shitty old man.

Sanji took a deep breath, he was going to ask his boss out on a date and hit on him like there was no tomorrow. Great idea. Excellent.

Sanji bit his lower lip and sat down on one of the plastic chairs in the male changing room. He sighed and rubbed at his temples, trying to silence the little voice in his head that was screaming at him to think about the consequences this could have. He'd already messed up by jerking off to his boss several times, now he was going to actually pursue this?

He really wanted Zoro, and not just physically; he wanted his company as well. The only thing that made Zoro's company unpleasant was the occasionally snarky insult and the fact Sanji wasn't allowed to touch the man. The insults weren't bad in and of themselves, he grew up sprouting and taking snarky comments and pointless cursing after all.

So it was just the touching really. If Sanji was allowed to touch...

Sanji's heart started hammering in his chest at the memory: fingers brushing slightly while carrying decorations, occasional kicks under the dinner table, that brush of their legs in the storage room. Sanji's body shuddered at the memory of falling onto Zoro. He could still hardly believe that his old man kicked him down the stairs (no matter how low they were), and that his fall would be so easily broken by Zoro's surprisingly soft body.

The sweater had been thick under his fingers, the fabric bunching up in his palms as he clung to the man's clothing in an attempt to catch himself in the fall. Hands latching onto the hood and shoulder and pulling at the fabric, face buried in the man's chest as he felt thick arms close around his back.

For a second he hadn't heard anything but thundering heartbeat (it could have been his own or Zoro's) and he could practically feel the muscle racing in Zoro's chest. His own heart had been doing the same, and for a single second neither moved, savoring the moment: the heat and smell; the feeling of completeness that shook Sanji to the core and threatened to leave him feeling hollow forever. Sanji's brain threatened to implode at the sound of Zoro's slightly hitched breathing, playing the sound over and over again in his head to make sure it was real.

Pulling away from Zoro had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. Pain bloomed in his chest at just the memory of it; staring down at Zoro's feet to avoid eye contact, telling the man he'd see him later, opening the door and hoping with every fiber of his being that Zoro wouldn't touch him and make it impossible to allow him to leave.

The warmth in Sanji's body seeped out into the cold air, too much of the same flowing into his lungs and cooling him down to the core from the inside. Zoro hadn't moved for a moment and Sanji's heart was desperately beating, calling out to Zoro without the permission of Sanji's brain. His body had been aching, urging him to reach out and touch again, but he'd ignored it, held it back.

Then Zoro left.

Even after Sanji closed the door and locked the cold outside, the room's temperature had dropped and he felt cold all the way to his bones. He didn't feel like crying, he didn't feel like anything. He wanted to go to bed and sleep until work. Much to Sanji's chagrin, Zeff had burst into his old room and challenged him, making all the hard work so far to NOT flirt with Zoro a complete waste.

Sanji sighed and got up, walking to the computer and clocking himself in. This was possibly going to be the longest day at work ever. At least he had all 6 hours of it to contemplate how he was going to ask Zoro out at the end of his shift; not that he'd been able to think about anything else since he made up his mind.

"Sanji! You're early! The shrill voice of a coworker almost gave the blond a heart attack; Perona's footsteps were really silent for a girl on killer heel pumps. Her striped leggings and fluffy skirt shattered her professional image as much as her makeup and gothic Lolita hairpins. Zoro had asked her to dress more modestly for work, but apparently Perona _'never takes fashion advice from cavemen'_.

"Ah! Perona-chan~" Sanji cooed at the girl who made her way over to him on her hot pink pumps. "How was Christmas with your boyfriend?" She was much shorter than Sanji in reality, but the extra height from the heels made them practically eyelevel.

"Boyfriend…" Perona looked at him in confusion for a second and Sanji realized she'd most likely lied about needing someone to cover her Christmas shift. Sanji's smile shrunk a molar as irritation set in at the back of his mind, but a man always forgives a woman's lies after all.

He'd also met Zoro properly because of this whole thing, so he wasn't really angry. The pink haired woman seemed to remember asking Sanji with tears in her eyes to cover her shift, and suddenly she smiled at him cutely with a cute wink.

"It was really nice~ You really saved my Christmas!" She said joyfully, sighing wistfully over the apparently wonderful Christmas she had. Sanji let it go, his holiday had been wonderful as well and it was all thanks to Perona.

"Perona-chan, did you know Zoro's the national champion of swordsmanship?" Sanji asked for curiosity's sake, Perona gave him an unimpressed arc of her elegant eyebrow and Sanji hastily added; "I saw him on the sports channel, pretty surprising."

"Not really, He was the champ last year too." Perona said in a bored tone, eyes half lidded as if the conversation was making it physically hard to keep her eyes open. "But of course you don't know that, you just started working here what… 5 months ago?"

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Sanji shrugged a little, grimacing that he'd missed out on all those chances to watch Zoro's matches on TV. The internet footage had been mostly recorded on phone and terrible quality. The only high quality video he found was when Mihawk sliced Zoro up and he was rushed to the emergency ward.

The memory still chilled Sanji to the bones. Crimson arch of blood in the air splattering Mihawk's face and clothing as Zoro fell backwards like a ragdoll.

"Well, we didn't see the point? He was going to quit anyway." Perona looked her black lacquered nails over arrogantly. "He got offered some sponsorship deal and quit. He only had two weeks left of his notice when you came along."

"What?" Sanji stared at her in disbelief, trying to process the information. Zoro had quit this job? Really? They had been so close to not meeting, the idea alone set Sanji on edge.

"Yeah, we don't have any idea either. He just said it was complicated and didn't tell us why. The brand probably bailed on him or something, it's a shame since he was excited about it." Perona's words just added to Sanji's confusion.

"He was… excited?" Sanji blinked, he wasn't sure they were talking about the same Zoro anymore.

"I guess he just really wanted that one particular brand, since old farts in really un-cute suits like to come to the store regularly and offer Zoro deals." Perona sighed dramatically, turning on her high heels and stomping off to the female changing room. "Pity for him; but if I have to suffer in this obnoxious place, I'm glad Zoro and everyone else has to too."

Sanji would have liked to point out how 'un-cute' that statement was, but Perona was giggling to herself as she closed the door to the changing room and Sanji decided to let it be. He wasn't one to argue with a lady after all.

Sanji walked up the stairs to the main floor. The constant sound of cash registers he'd gotten used to hearing so long ago filled his ears, and the smell of the merchandise and multiple people dragging snow into the store filled his senses. The sound of rubber soles on wet tile floor was grating on his sanity and made him long for a smoke.

God he hated retail.

The rest of the day was passed uneventfully. Sanji was stuck on his post, unable to do much more than longingly glance at Zoro when the man walked past, carrying boxes and signing clipboards held out by anxious looking delivery men. They hadn't made eye contact all day, and Sanji had the painfully lingering fear that Zoro was avoiding him.

Had he given up when Sanji quite literally left him in the cold? He supposed Zoro might have misunderstood it, well, there was nothing to misunderstand. Zoro might have drawn the completely logical conclusion that Sanji wasn't interested in him from the way he showed him out the door.

Sanji bit his lower lip, trying to smooth out a barcode on a bag of chips enough for the scanner to read it. After taking the man's payment and giving him back his change and receipt, Sanji smiled to the next customer. A middle aged man who was holding a single can of corn and, assuming from his expression, the can had offended his mother.

"Can I assist you?" Sanji asked as politely as he could, eyeing the three people in line after the frankly furious looking man. He slipped a finger down to the large red button under his register, calling Perona back to her register to ease his line.

The bell chimed and the sound of Perona's heels got closer, the people in line moved over to her register, and Sanji turned fully to the man who was glaring him down; ready to take the rant that was no doubt welling up inside the man.

"I certainly hope so!" The man spat out angrily, slamming the can down on the counter loud enough to startle a passing old lady. Sanji took a deep breath to calm down and looked at the innocent can of corn. He quickly glanced the label over, the product didn't seem to be expired or damaged in any way.

"What seems to be the problem?" Sanji managed to force a smile, picking up the can of corn slowly as one might approach a rabid dog. He held it up and turned it around. The man reached out and snatched it from Sanji's hand, pointing furiously at it and shaking it at the blonde's face.

"THIS BRAND! I do not WANT this brand! Where are the others?!" The man was furious, snarling at Sanji like the corn happened to be his heart medication and Sanji had dumped them into the ocean. "There was NO assistance to be had in the canned food aisle! HORRIBLE service!"

"I apologize Sir; perhaps our 'canned good specialist' happens to be on break. I will assist you as I can." Sanji locked his register and walked the man to the aisle hosting the goods. The man kept ranting about there being no service to be had from these young people today. Sanji ignored it as he'd heard this a thousand times. He wasn't going to lose control of his temper. This wasn't worth it.

"Here is where our stock of corn is kept." Sanji gestured professionally to the row of cans on the shelf.

"And this damn store doesn't have the brand I want! Where is it? It's ALWAYS been right here!" The man pointed angrily to a can of corn on the shelf. Sanji could faintly remember some other logo being on the shelf a long time ago.

"I'm sorry sir. If it's not here we either don't carry it anymore or it happens to be out of stock. It happens occasionally following Christmas." Sanji tried his best to explain, every single can was perfectly displayed, so Kaku had clearly been here to front the shelves this morning. If there was a brand missing, Kaku knew about it.

"If it always happens on Christmas, you should order more you ingrate!" The man snarled, clutching the can. Sanji felt his temper bubbling up in his chest, but he had to keep in check. Disrespecting the customers; no matter how obnoxious they were acting, was against store policy.

_Breathe in._

_Breathe out._

"It does not always happen." Sanji managed to say calmly, his brow twitching in bottled up rage. "We have five other brands sir, I'm sure you can-"

"Don't you argue with me! The customer is always right!" The man howled and, for a second, Sanji was actually afraid he was going to throw the can at his face. "I ALWAYS have that particular brand of corn, I WANT that particular brand of corn and you better go and find some! It's probably somewhere in the back and you are simply too LAZY to go check!"

"Listen up… sir…" Sanji bristled at the insult, the man's voice had become loud enough to attract curious customers. He couldn't for the life of him understand why this person needed that particular brand of damn corn so desperately! "If you could please tell me the name of the brand you want, I can ask our 'canned goods specialist'-"

"I don't remember the damn brand name!" The man shook his finger at Sanji gesturing to the shelf and dragging his hand across the rows, upsetting the flawless fronting that probably took Kaku a long time to accomplish. "It's the one that ISN'T on this shelf!"

"Sir… do you expect me to go and search for a brand by excluding every single brand name-" Sanji began, but the man huffed and crossed his arms petulantly.

"Just use the computer!" The man demanded, clearly not knowing anything about how the computer system in stores and supermarkets worked. "Look it up!"

"That's not possible." Sanji was swallowing his rage, his hands were literally shaking. "That is… not how it works."

"How dare you talk back to me!" the man almost screamed, and Sanji wanted to yell at him to buy another shitty brand of corn for CRYING out loud. It was just fucking CORN. It took all of his self-control to resist screaming at the man's face how utterly insane he was acting.

"What is going on here?" Zoro's voice was like sweet music to Sanji's ears for several reasons. One of them was because the husky baritone WAS sweet music to his ears, the other happened to be the fact that he wasn't going to have to deal with this horrible customer on his own anymore.

"Well this INSUFFERABLY RUDE young man refuses to assist me!" The man growled at Zoro, glaring at him as the green haired man came closer. "I DEMAND to see a manager!"

"I _am_ the manager." Zoro said bluntly, crossing his arms threateningly over his chest, looking more like a wrestler than a manager. The fabric of Zoro's uniform strained on the flex, stretching the logo out as Zoro gestured to the name tag.

_'Roronoa Zoro - Store Manager'_ The color drained instantly from the customer's face and Sanji held his breath and tried not making a sound or bursting out in rude, victorious laughter.

"Well, you see-" The man began, eyes darting from Zoro's bulging muscles to his eye scar, down to the three glistening earrings dangling at his ear. "I wanted another brand of corn, but it's NOT HERE."

"Then it's not here." Zoro said bluntly, almost causing Sanji to lose his cool.

"No you don't understand, it's ALWAYS been here." The man gestured to the shelf, poking one of the cans off to the back. Zoro's brow twitched slightly in annoyance. The customer must have misinterpreted it as some sign of weakness, since his confidence grew and his voice got louder. "And when I asked this… BRAT here to assist me, I was treated rudely!"

Sanji couldn't help but snarl at that, there was only so much disrespect he could take before some of it started showing on his face. Zoro placed a large warm hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze that seemed to siphon all the anger out of Sanji.

"I see. And the problem with these other brands is?" Zoro asked in a bored voice, arching a brow that the man who seemed appalled to be asked such a rude question.

"It is NOT my brand! This is unacceptable!" The man yelled, raising his hand and shaking the can at Zoro's face. "The brand I like has a different logo!"

"What is the brand's name sir?"

"I DO NOT KNOW! YOU SHOULD KNOW! YOU WORK HERE!"

"You say you purchase this can of corn every time?"

"YES!" the man was practically howling in anger. "FOR YEARS! DECADES EVEN!"

"And yet you can't remember the brand name?" Zoro asked again, and the man turned red in the face from a mix of anger and embarrassment. Other customers were laughing at the scene and it seemed to be upsetting the man.

"If the brand isn't here, it is either out of stock or has been taken from shelves." Zoro explained in a slow soothing tone, almost mocking as if he was speaking to a child. "If it will spare you the tantrum, I can call the staff member in charge of the canned goods and ask if he has any clue which it is."

"That is what I have been asking all along!" The man snarled in fury, hands trembling. "DO IT." The man stomped his foot, earning him a death glare from Zoro. The man instantly froze, withdrawing as if Zoro had slapped him across the face.

Zoro pulled a phone from his belt, dialing the inside number for the staff room where Kaku was presumably eating. The customer fiddled around with the can, huffing and mumbling under his breath while avoiding eye contact with Zoro.

"Yo, Kaku." Zoro said after a moment, sounding quite calm about the whole deal. "There's a… geezer here who's bitching at me because his favorite brand of corn isn't on the shelf; are we missing any brands?"

Sanji snorted in amusement, the laughter bubbled from his chest and he tried his best to keep it down. The look on the rude old man's face was priceless. He would have loved to call the asshole a geezer himself, so he was extremely satisfied with Zoro's choice of words.

"GEEZER?" The man snapped in indignation, Zoro gave him a look and turned the phone from his mouth.

"Are you eavesdropping on a private conversation?" Zoro asked casually, and the man shook his head ferociously, taking a step back and staring at the floor. Zoro turned back to the phone, Sanji could faintly hear Kaku's overly polite voice over the clatter of Zoro's earrings.

Without saying good bye on the phone, Zoro hung up and turned to the old man.

"The one brand that is missing on these shelves has been discontinued and will never be in stock again." Zoro said casually gesturing to the other brands. "Apparently there was some sort of medical problem." The swordsman's lips parted in a smug smirk.

"P-problem!?" the man huffed in disbelief. "I don't believe that for a second! I've been eating those corn for decades and I am perfectly healthy!"

"Apparently extended consumption makes people arrogant, rude and petty. It's science." Zoro said casually, and Sanji couldn't help but smirk, that was obvious bullshit, yet Zoro was smiling. "Now I recommend you ask this highly qualified man here for advice on what brand of corn you should change to. He's an educated chef."

The man stared wide eyed at Zoro and then over to Sanji, who squirmed slightly for being gaped at. Feeling a little bad for being given a title he did not technically have, he decided to clarify.

"-Kamabakka cooking school actually."

"A..ah. I see. A pro." The man managed to choke up, turning to the shelf. "S-so… what do you recommend?" Sanji glanced over to Zoro arched a brow at him teasingly, taking a step back to watch.

"This one is popular in restaurants." Sanji gestured to a high end brand, handing the man a can. He couldn't help but gloat a little, so he gestured to the logo with a flourish. "If you are a man of high quality corn that is."

"Ah… yes… I will try these then. Thank you for the assistance." The man said awkwardly, sliding the abused can he'd been carrying since he called Sanji out here back into the shelf before practically running with his tail between his legs and red faced with embarrassment out of the store.

The small crowd that had formed scattered again, leaving Sanji and Zoro alone in the canned goods hallway. Zoro hadn't said a word nor looked at Sanji, and the blond was getting anxious.

"Hey-" Sanji began, but was interrupted by Kaku running towards him.

"Ah! I apologize! I'm here now to assist-" The man looked around, casting a slightly sad glance at the messed up shelf. "You took care of it I assume?"

"Yes, it's taken care of." Zoro sighed and walked to the shelf, crouching and fixing up the cans. Kaku joined him with a thankful look, turning the cans this way and that and pulling them to the front of the shelf.

"Oi, curly, get back to the register and send Perona on her break." Zoro jerked his head to the side, not sparing Sanji a single glance. Damn it. Sanji turned and stomped to the register, faking a smile when a large section of Perona's line scurried over to him in hopes of saving a minute of their day.

How was he supposed to assure Zoro that he was actually interested? He didn't even want to wait until the end of the day anymore, but he couldn't make a move at work. So far, this day wasn't going as planned. Sanji's mood was turning foul.

The day _continued_ to not go as planned at all, Sanji's lunch break dragged late because Perona was a few extra minutes. Naturally Sanji didn't mention this, as he would hate to get a lady in trouble for something as minor as 18 minutes or so.

As soon as he returned though, Perona turned around for a favor.

"Hey, Sanji, It's my turn to refill the coffee and sugar and everything for the staff room, but it's heavy and my wrist hurts." She battered her eyelashes at him, a cute pout on her barbie pink lips. "-and the boxes with the coffee and cups and everything is really high up on the shelf."

"Of course Perona-chan~" His patience would have started to wear thin if Perona wasn't a woman. But he couldn't expect her to carry such heavy things, not the delicate lady~

"Ring the bell if you need assistance on the registers." Sanji headed over to the storage room, flicking the lights on and looking around. The boxes of coffee weren't in their usual place. Sanji had to walk all the way to the back of the storage room, squinting through the meager lighting to read the labels.

"Oi! What is it?" The storage room door opened with a loud thump, heavy footsteps joining Sanji in the room. The blond turned around just as Zoro rounded a corner, the older man paused and his brow fell slightly in confusion. "What? Where is the creepy-girl?"

"Don't call Perona-chan that!" Sanji huffed, crossing his arms. "She asked me to get the coffee because the boxes were heavy."

Zoro glanced around to the storage room like he was half expecting Perona to jump out and scare him. Sanji remembered Perona talking about how she and Zoro had been working together for a few years, just exactly what had the poor marimo had to suffer through to make him so wary?

"Well, the coffee is up there." Zoro gestured to one of the larger boxes on the top shelf. Sanji turned around to glare at it, reaching up and standing on his toes to pull at it, trying to coax it from the shelf. His fingers slipped on the cardboard corner, and the box remained in place.

"I'll do it… shorty cook." Zoro sighed and walked over, reaching up to the box with his extra height and rolling his one functioning eye. Sanji frowned at that, turning to glare at Zoro until he realized how incredibly close the older man was.

When Sanji turned around, his face was almost flushed up against Zoro, the smell of his aftershave assaulting Sanji's senses and the heat rolled off Zoro's body in waves. He was reaching over Sanji, standing with his neck arched as he was focused on the box above them. Sanji's heart was rampaging in his chest, bashing around as if it was attempting to escape its cage.

Zoro's earrings clattered in the soft light, rattling by the sharp curve of Zoro's powerful jaw. Sanji stared captivated for a moment as the man's jaw clenched and relaxed, lips parting slightly as the man cursed under his breath as the box slipped from his hand. The skin on Zoro's jaw looked endlessly tempting, soft and freshly shaven.

_' I didn't raise a coward! '_

Zeff's booming voice echoed in the back of Sanji's mind, silencing the shrill voice of doubt. That's right, he wasn't a coward. Sanji inhaled as silently as he could, turning half way to the larger man without him noticing. Zoro didn't seem to have noticed how close they were or how Sanji had turned to face him, all his attention on the box slowly sliding to the edge.

Sanji leaned forward in a flash, pressing his lips right above Zoro's jaw, feeling his lips sink slightly into the soft skin on Zoro's cheek. He could feel the jaw under his lips snap shut, tension ran though Zoro's body and the box above them stopped moving.

Wanting to make sure the message got across, Sanji held the kiss for a second before pulling back, the soft sound of lips parting from skin echoing almost maddeningly loud in the storage room. Sanji attempted to back up further to get a good view of Zoro's reaction.

His back hit the shelf and he realized he was trapped, caught between Zoro and the shelves. His heart was beating madly, pumping blood to his face and turning it red. He grinned slightly, unable to hold back the joy of FINALLY acting on some of his feelings. No matter how stupid those feelings really were.

Zoro stared down at him for a moment, his face completely blank and rather stupid looking; but that was nothing new to Sanji. Zoro's one remaining eye was wide in disbelief, and he reached up to touch the spot Sanji kissed tentatively. The blond grimaced slightly, averting his eyes with embarrassment, Zoro wasn't DOING anything damn it!

"Say something mossbrain! I'm putting myself out there and you-" Sanji's argument died in his throat when he turned to glare at Zoro, the man was so close now and his hand wasn't on his cheek anymore. The fingers were at Sanji' shoulder, moving upwards and brushing against Sanji's chin.

The warmth and electric pulse that travelled through every single nerve in Sanji's face ran down Sanji's back in a shiver. Zoro's eye was slightly hooded, the dark gaze flicking down to Sanji's lips and lingering hungrily for a second before their eyes met again.

Zoro's breath ghosted over Sanji's lips and chin, just barely tickling the skin as the older man leant closer. Sanji could feel the warmth, fingers caressing his jaw and tilting his head upwards slightly, giving him every chance to back out as Zoro's lips parted and brushed against Sanji's.

The feeling of Zoro's lips and hot breath on Sanji's mouth threatened to pull a moan from his chest. He wasn't going to let that happen, but Zoro was moving so horribly slow when Sanji needed this NOW. He parted his lips and eased into Zoro's, pressing them together gently and grabbing onto Zoro's shirt to force him to stay.

The moment their lips met, Zoro pressed against Sanji, dragging his lips across parted ones and pulling on them slightly, wet sounds of saliva mixing filled the air as Sanji's tongue darted out to greet Zoro's, inviting it inside to play.

Zoro's extended arm retreated from the box above and slid down the shelf, clinging to the level besides Sanji's head with a white knuckled grip. The flexing of muscle contrasting to the gentle slip of Zoro's hot and eager tongue along the roof of Sanji's mouth, wiping the blond's mind completely blank with a strained breath and a low rumble that seemed to vibrate against Sanji's lips and rattle his heart in his ribcage.

Gradually the kisses became shorter and more frequent, lips pressing against lips as Zoro pulled away, leaving both of them breathing heavily and staring. Zoro's kiss flushed face was perfect, complete with a slight blush and hungry look in his eye made Sanji want to curse himself for not doing this sooner.

He wrapped his arms around Zoro's neck, urging him back towards him and shuddering under Zoro's touch when the older man pressed him against the shelves hungrily. Hesitation was thrown out the window as Zoro groaned loudly against Sanji's lips, kissing at the corner of Sanji's mouth and breathing erotically against his skin.

Sanji's fingers buried in the thick green hair, carefully combed strands fanning over pale fingers as he pulled gently on the locks, turning to capture Zoro's lips with his own. The tension surged in his body, his bones felt hot and liquid, barely capable of holding him up as Zoro seemed intent wiping all previous kisses from Sanji's memory.

Sanji moaned, he wanted Zoro so bad, in every sense of the word and all ways he could think of. He wanted him with him. Beside him. Over him. Behind him. Under him. IN him.

Sanji let out a shuddering breath, his body was aching for everything at once and every single touch against his skin was exactly what he was craving. Sanji hooked his leg around Zoro's waist, pulling himself up and closer to the man. He moaned into the older man's mouth at the friction against his groin, grinding slightly to get more of the pleasure.

There was a creaking sound by Sanji's head, he reluctantly pulled away to see if something was falling off the shelf. Zoro moved his attention to Sanji's neck and jaw, sucking and licking at the skin in a way that threatened to melt Sanji's brain, their breathing was heavy and the smaller man could feel Zoro's hips buckle against him erotically.

The source of the creak was the shelf Zoro was clinging to. Metal was bending slightly from his grip; the shelf was crooked where the screw had broken. Sanji moaned at the sight, arching his body against Zoro who let out a shuddering needy breath against Sanji's collarbone.

"Z…Zoro… touch me…" Sanji's voice came out breathier and more desperate than the blond had wanted, but the shudder that ran down Zoro's back clouded the embarrassment in a haze of arousal. The manager's hand left the creased metal shelf and travelled reverently down Sanji's side, fingers tugging slightly on the fabric of the work shirt.

Sanji let his head fall back when Zoro's left hand ran over his lower back, fingers teasing the back of Sanji's pants while the right one slipped under Sanji's shirt and traced thick calloused fingertips over the uneven surface of his stomach. Every single second of contact against his flesh felt like fire, threatening to burn Sanji alive and he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle the whole hand on his flesh.

"My pleasure…" Zoro groaned into Sanji's ear, kneading on Sanji's behind with one hand and the other caressing the edge of Sanji's chest. "Whenever you want… pervert" Zoro added that last word with a grin against Sanji's jaw, rubbing his fingers against the back of Sanji's pants teasingly.

"You're the pervert, mossy bastaaaahhh-" Sanji tried to argue back, but his words drowned in a moan when Zoro's fingers brushed against his nipple, wiping his mind blank for a blissful second.

Zoro, trailing his hand down Sanji's stomach again as he kissed gently at Sanji's jaw, sucking slightly on the soft skin on the underside as he took a firm hold of Sanji's ass and pulled him up to his waist. Sanji let out a little grunt of approval, using the new leverage to wrap both his legs around Zoro's body and lean over him for a dominating kiss.

Sanji wasn't expecting to be allowed to lead, so when Zoro parted his lips and allowed the smaller man to explore freely, the blond did so eagerly. Aggressively crushing their lips together, he moaned as Zoro's tongue tangled with his. The taste and warmth made Sanji lightheaded, the erotic sounds Zoro made when Sanji sucked on his tongue made Sanji wonder if it was possible to come with just kissing.

Suddenly Sanji's entire body jolted and he pulled away from the kiss with a loud gasp, it took a moment for Sanji's kiss-addled brain to catch up with the pleasure that shot up his spine like an electric shock. Sanji panted and clung to Zoro's hair, yanking on it with a shaking hand as Zoro kept rubbing at the front of Sanji's pants.

The friction against his arousal felt amazing; Zoro's palm cupped the bulge and kneaded it sinfully as his fingers dragged against the fabric. Sanji buckled up into the tight friction, burying his heels in the back of Zoro's thighs demandingly as he arched into the shelves.

The cold metal against his skin felt great, contrasting to the kisses against his neck and aggressive rubbing of his trapped erection. His breathing was getting harder, every time the heel of Zoro's palm ground against the throbbing head of his cock Sanji's vision went white and he buckled against the bigger man.

He could feel Zoro's heavy breath on his skin, the slickness of his tongue and the pull when the swordsman dragged his teeth over tense muscle. Sanji grabbed onto the shelf support behind him with one hand and buried his other in Zoro's hair, urging the man onwards as he tried keeping down the internal screaming that echoed inside his head.

He wanted Zoro so bad; he'd never wanted anyone as bad as this marimo bastard right now. He pulled Zoro closer with his hips, forcing him flushed against him and effectively making it impossible for the green haired bastard to fondle him to completion through his pants. He wanted more of those dirty sounds Zoro made; wanted more of the smell and taste.

Zoro's breathing softened slightly when Sanji leant over him, kissing at the sharp jaw and down the thick muscular neck. Holding Zoro's shoulders and kneading them, pulling at the shirt and burrowing his fingers deep in the tense thick muscle, Sanji loosened the vice grip his legs had on Zoro's his and slid lower.

Sanji felt how Zoro's face tilted and buried in his hair, deep inhales through the nose and soft groans of approval made Sanji's heart beat faster. He distracted Zoro with a trail of soft kisses from the very bottom of the scar at his cheek onto his lips. With Zoro sufficiently distracted, Sanji's right hand slid down the man's powerful chest and into the larger man's pants.

Zoro's breath hitched and left the man's body with a deep groan that resonated from his chest, the breath ghosting across Sanji's jaw as the man's head lowered to nuzzle at his neck. Taking this as a _'yes please'_ Sanji's fingers slid down, following the coarse green trail to the treasure until his fingers hit a hard and throbbing obstacle.

The heat and odd pulsating throb under Sanji's fingertips fascinated him; the needy shuddering inhale in his ear urged him on as he ran his delicate fingers around the base of Zoro's shaft. Sanji felt something slick move briefly under his fingertips as he wrapped them firmly around the shaft.

He could hear Zoro's thundering heartbeat, strained breath against his ear as the man buckled slightly into his hand. There wasn't much space to move in Zoro's tight pants, but Sanji ran a finger along the throbbing underside, swallowing thickly as Zoro's breathy moans seemed to rock his entire body. His body was humming with need, and he wasn't sure if the need was to make Zoro feel good or get off himself.

"S…San-" Zoro husky moan was interrupted by the storage room door flying open behind them, startling both men out of their haze and pulling them apart. The world came crashing down on them when Kaku entered the room and Sanji realized he was giving his boss a hand job in the storage room during work hours.

"Zoro? You in here?" Kaku half sang into the darkness, thankfully the cheerful long nose didn't seem to have noticed anything, peering through the dark of the storage room. They were hidden near the back, shielded by rows of shelves and stacks of boxes. Sanji withdrew his hand from Zoro's pants slowly.

"Yeah, I'm here." Zoro rumbled with barely supressed arousal. He glanced over his shoulder, giving Sanji an almost desperate look before he ran a hand through his hair to tame it from the wild mess it had become. Sanji was painfully hard and craving a cigarette, his mind still reeling from the sudden weight of what he'd just done.

His hand was still warm and there were thick globs of pre come on his fingers, Sanji had to physically restrain himself from the urge of licking it off. He licked his lips and moved his fingers slightly, glancing up at Zoro who looked fully aware of this and about ready to burst.

"What's up? I'm busy…" Zoro said in the most controlled tone he could manage, running a finger along Sanji's bottom lip, presumably to wipe off some saliva. Sanji almost moaned at the feeling, jerking away as if he'd been burned and hastily fixing his shirt and hair, trying not to smear cum on himself.

"Some brats were playing with the emergency exit and we need the master key to lock it properly!" Kaku said urgently, taking a step into the storage. This jolted both of them into full alertness. Sanji pushed Zoro to the door with his foot, urging him to go take care of things with a grimace and a nod of his head.

"Alright, damn brats." Zoro snarled angrily, taking a reluctant step away from Sanji. "I'll be right there as soon as I put these boxes back up, go and make sure no one slips outside."

"Aye-aye Sir!" Kaku saluted cutely with a flick of his cap and disappeared through the door, leaving them open. Both men sighed heavily, exchanging needy glances.

"We need to continue this…" Zoro swallowed thickly, walking over and pressing a pleading kiss at the corner of Sanji's mouth. "…later? You have the 6 hour shift, right?"

"Y-yeah..." Sanji whispered gently, lips barely brushing against Zoro's. "When are you off?"

"I have an 8 hour shift, but I arrive hour earlier than you, so I'll have to spend an hour in this hellhole without you." Zoro grimaced slightly, shaking his head in annoyance and his nose brushed up against Sanji's a couple of times.

"Give me a call as soon as you get off work and I'll give you live directions to my place." Sanji rested his forehead against Zoro's, "I'll keep them simple so not even you can get lost." Sanji chuckled; remembering how terribly lost the bastard could manage to get even on the simplest route.

"I don't get lost… bastard cook." Zoro frowned at him. Sanji could feel the furrows forming against his forehead. He couldn't help but chuckle, was the marimo actually sulking?

"I'll have dinner ready at my place. So I don't want you to get lost and the food getting cold." Sanji added to appease the man. The truth was that waiting alone at home for an hour would be bad enough; he didn't want to wait any more than he had to.

"And then we can continue this?" Zoro ran a hand over Sanji's groin, pleading tone in his voice threatening to bring back all the painful arousal. Sanji squirmed slightly.

"Yeah, yeah." Sanji agreed, lips lingering at Zoro's upper lip. "Get going already moss-manager! I'll have to wait a bit before I can leave." He pushed Zoro away with a foot to his stomach, keeping him a leg length away. Zoro's eyes lingered on Sanji's leg for a moment before he turned around and stomped out of the storage room.

As soon as Zoro closed the door, Sanji's knees buckled and the blond slid down the shelf to the floor, groaning to himself and staring into the muddy dust covered light bulb. He'd done it. Now all he had to do was survive the next 2 hours, go home and cook something to distract himself from the wait for Zoro to come over. To his place. Sanji shuddered at the thought.

He'd have to buy some new lube, his bottle was getting really old and half empty. Maybe extra condoms in case Zoro didn't like bare backing; he'd HATE to postpone getting his mind blown to run to the store for condoms. Hopefully Zoro would share this kink of his; he'd really like nothing between himself and Zoro when he finally got the man into bed.

First time Sanji had sex with a man he'd been an overexcited teenager in a hormonal haze, only realizing afterwards that he should have used a condom. After that he'd made sure to use them with all his partners, but it hadn't felt the same to him with men.

Sanji sighed, he knew _he_ was clean. After his last girlfriend broke up with him and promptly informed him she'd been sleeping with a lot of other men while they dated, he'd gotten tested and (thankfully) had a clean bill of health. It was largely thanks to using a condom he supposed.

What size would Zoro need? Sanji got up and left the storage room, making sure to close the door with his clean hand, hiding the cum-stained one until he reached the staff bathroom. He rinsed off and washed thoroughly, raising his hand to the mirror and measuring the approximate size his fingers had encircled earlier.

_No that couldn't possibly be right._ Sanji shook his head and closed his eyes, remembering the heat in his palm as he focused on getting the approximate size correctly. When he opened them again, he raised his hand back to the mirror, confident he had a fairly accurate measurement.

Sanji bit his lip, watching how his fingertips brushed together as his hand shook slightly. -_Fuck-. _Sanji's eyes widened slightly as he glanced around in the bathroom, blushing slightly as he brought the circle to his mouth and measured it. Suddenly there was a flush behind him and a clatter of toilet seat, and Sanji realized he wasn't alone.

The blond darted out of the bathroom before the stall door opened, slipping inside the staff room and pretending to be busy as the water started running in the bathroom sink. He was still visibly hard and blushing, so Sanji turned his back to the door in case someone entered; pretending to take stock of the coffee.

Huh. Strange. There was more than enough coffee in here. Why would Perona send him to get more?

As soon as the footsteps passed the staff room, Sanji took a deep breath and returned to work. The people he smiled at all faded into a blur of faces he didn't feel like acknowledging. Occasionally Zoro walked past, eye contact lingering for a second before both men pretended nothing had changed. Only one hour and 42 minutes left.

Not that he was counting or anything.

* * *

Thanks to **MistressHasty** for being the beta for this story! She decided that the annoying customer in the first half of the chapter was Vernon Dursley from harry potter. I am in no way confirming nor denying that he was the model for this particular customer.

Also: in iceland our registers have "panic buttons" for the staff to call for assistance to prevent lines from getting long, I didn't realize not all stores had this. Wow. Must suck for your poor retail workers! D:

(Most of the retail hell in this story is taken directly from my own personal experience in retail.)


	9. Chapter 9

**Small Miracles chapter 9**

* * *

32 minutes.

Sanji looked at the clock on his register. No. Still 32 minutes.

He'd already decided what he was going to make for dinner, some light chicken that was protein rich and not too heavy in the stomach. He didn't want any food coma threatening his evening, but he wanted to make sure Zoro was full of energy for what Sanji had planned.

Damn. Still 32 minutes. Why was time passing so slowly? He felt like he'd been chained to the damn register for days. It was like every time Zoro entered Sanji's line of sight time skipped backwards, adding an eternity to the clock. Sanji sighed, hoping the damn bastard got lost somewhere in the baking aisle and stopped making Sanji's heart ache and pants tighten just by walking by.

Yes! Finally! 31 minutes. Paulie was here early and there were no lines of any on the registers. It seemed like he'd be able to leave at exactly the designated time. Standing idly by the register was boring Sanji out of his mind. He was itching to move. Even having something to distract himself with for three minutes would be great.

"Oi, Paulie! Chain my station up; I'm going to the bathroom for a second." Sanji hit the lock button on his register as Paulie reached over to click the chain barring entrance to Sanji's register in place, giving Sanji a thumbs up and a grin. Sanji returned the gesture and stuck his hands in his pockets, taking his time walking down the stairs to the changing room.

Sanji walked past the bathroom, planning on checking his phone real quick for messages to kill time. Before he reached the changing rooms though, the door flew open and Zoro exited, closing the door behind him. The larger man seemed to fill the narrow hallway and Sanji's heart jumped a bit in his chest when Zoro's bored expression eased into a smirk.

"Slacking off at work?" The older man walked towards Sanji, whose pace had slowed considerably. The blond grimaced slightly, but before he could come up with a clever answer, Zoro leant down and snatched the words right from Sanji's mouth with his own.

The press was brief and chaste, green haired head tilted just slightly so allow their lips to meld together perfectly for the brief eternity it took Zoro to pass him on the hallway. Sanji was left in shock in the middle of the hallway, listening to the other man's soft chuckles in the distance behind him as Zoro made his way up the stairs.

The reality of the entire affair rushed over Sanji again like a tidal wave. The pressure and heat lingering on his lips and making his heart flutter and ache with longing. In just 29 minutes he'd be out of here. In a little over an hour and a half, he'd have Zoro all to himself. Kissing and touching for as long as they wanted, with no one to interrupt them and no pressing circumstances.

Just the two of them and no one to tell them what they could and could not do. Sanji checked his phone. No one had tried to contact him and the clock on his phone satisfyingly ticked down to 28 minutes left of his work day. With a sigh and a lazy stretch of his back, Sanji headed back upstairs to finish his shift.

Zoro had brought the cashbox when there were ten minutes of Sanji's shift left; plenty of time to finish wringing up his station and be out the door on the dot. He'd do some shopping right here in the store and go home. He'd have to buy the lube and condoms somewhere else though; he really didn't need any of his coworkers teasing him about it. He finished counting up his register and handing the box over to Bentham before he went downstairs to change his clothes.

Sadly there was no Zoro in the changing room this time, so Sanji was able to change his clothes without any distractions. He tucked Zoro's shirt into his bag to hand it over later that night. Realizing he had no time to lose, especially if he had to make a stop to buy some provisions for the night, Sanji shouldered his bag and climbed the steps to run through the store with his mental shopping list.

"We're having chicken?" Zoro said low, looking curiously into Sanji's shopping basket. The blond jolted in place, almost dropping the vegetable he was holding. Sanji had been so absorbed in shopping for dinner, he didn't notice Zoro watching him until the man was right up beside him.

"Shithead! Don't sneak up on me! God damned ninja-moss." Sanji snarled in anger, trying to calm his thundering heart. Zoro laughed at that, wide smile on his face making Sanji feel all sorts of warm tingles break out over his skin. The bastard didn't smile nearly often enough.

"Ninja-moss?" Zoro laughed in disbelief, his one functioning eye setting on Sanji. "You're the one who's so absorbed in cucumbers you don't notice what's going on around you."

"S-shut up! Choosing the right ingredients is just as important as making the food!" Sanji hissed, picking one of the thickest cucumbers from the group and tossing into his basket. He leant in a little closer, pulling some onions out of the shelf behind Zoro. "And if you want to enjoy it, you'll respect the preparation phase."

"Does that go for the food too?" Zoro said casually, trying to keep the perverted smile off his lips and failing amusingly. Sanji reddened considerably at that, pulling away glaring awkwardly at a stack of leeks.

"Of course it does! Pervert-boss." Sanji huffed and turned away, stalking over to the fruit stall to pick out some lemons. Zoro followed him as inconspicuously as he could, that is to say, not inconspicuously at all. The green haired man checked the clock with an impatient furrow of his brow.

"Shit time is moving so slow I'm sure it's going backwards." Zoro sighed with a slight groan, rubbing at his temple with his thumb, his other fingers ghosting over the scar on his eye as if by habit. Sanji bagged some lemons and tried to ignore the sudden burning need to kiss over Zoro's injured eye. The scar was so sharp, especially around the thin skin on the eyelid.

It must have hurt so badly. Had it bled a lot? Was the eye gone or was he just blind? Had there been nerve damage? Had the pain kept him up at night? Had he suffered through that alone?

"Cook?" Zoro leant slightly closer, filling Sanji's field of view completely and arching a brow at him. "You're zoning out again."

"Don't LEAN over me like that damn it! It's like an avalanche!" Sanji shook himself out of his self-induced trance, heat in his cheeks and tension rising in his chest. "You're blocking my view moss brain! Moss-mountain!"

"I was asking if you wanted me to buy anything." Zoro took a step back, crossing his arms with an amused look on his face. Sanji grimaced a little, he wasn't sure he wanted to rely on the moss-head to remember anything vital.

"You can supply drinks." Sanji said casually, knowing he had various kinds of drinks at home if something happened.

"Leave the drinks to me." Zoro said confidently, his face splitting in a wide happy grin. Sanji's entire body tingled at the sight and his heart ached and seemed to struggle beating. Shit, he'd let Zoro be in charge of alcohol forever if he got a smile like that every time.

"I need to get going so we can eat as soon as you come over." Sanji checked his watch, he also wanted to take a shower and clean his apartment up a little. "Call me as soon as you're off work, don't wander anywhere and get lost!"

"I don't get lost." Zoro grumbled, rolling his one healthy eye in annoyance. "Just tell me your address and I'll take a cab."

Sanji shrugged, they weight of the basket pulling on his arm. He didn't have time for this, he still had to stop by somewhere and buy lube and condoms. "It's just a ten minute walk though."

"Don't care; it'll be faster for me and easier for you." Zoro shrugged and pulled the small work-notebook out of his back pocket. He handed it over to Sanji expectantly, flipping to the last page. "Put it here."

Sanji stared at the older man for a second, realizing that yes, if Zoro was willing to pay the money for a drive to his place that would be more convenient. He scribbled down his address, adding his phone number for good measure. Zoro pocketed the book after looking the information over for a second.

"Your handwriting is shit." Zoro pointed out as he smirked at Sanji.

"Your handwriting is _illegible_ shit." Sanji sighed, turning on his heel to walk to the registers. "See you later moss-brain." He got no answer other than an approving grunt, he had the feeling Zoro was staring at his ass. Good.

There was no line on Perona's register, so Sanji was delighted to be able to get out of this annoying place as soon as possible. Usually people preferred Paulie's awkward fumbling to Perona's frown and bizarre giant bat earrings, and that suited Sanji just fine. The pink haired girl mumbled something about wanting to go home, but Sanji didn't listen, he couldn't possibly do anything about it and she didn't seem to be directly asking him for any more favors.

Speaking of which.

"There was enough coffee in the staff room today." Sanji said as politely as he could, studying Perona for any clues for her bizarre behavior. "It looked like it was filled yesterday even."

Perona rang his chicken with an annoyed disbelieving look, chewing on gum she wasn't actually allowed to have during work hours. Another thing Zoro kept scolding her for. Sanji remembered seeing Zoro practically turn her upside down by her ankles trying to get her to spit it out.

"Oh is that so? How silly of me. Tee-hee." Perona sighed rolling her big round eyes and scanning his fruits with practiced clicks of their designated numbers. "You guys just better fucking invite me to the damn wedding." She mumbled under her breath a little too fast for Sanji to catch.

Before anyone could stall him further, Sanji set off for home, taking big steps and listening to the snow crunch under his feet. He'd have to make sure not to jump Zoro the moment he stepped inside his apartment. Sanji lit himself a cigarette, taking a long drag that he'd been craving for hours.

As tempting as it was to yank Zoro to the floor by his shirt and grind against him until their clothes were gone, Sanji wanted more than just sex. Well, he really wanted the sex, but he wanted Zoro too. He wanted his company, he wanted his respect, and he wanted to wake up beside him just as much as he wanted him inside him.

Fuck. He wanted to date Zoro. He'd known the man for roughly half a year, but he'd only spoken to him at work, and only as his boss. And yes, he'd enjoyed looking when no one was around to catch him, indulged in the rare naughty thought here and there, and gotten into some occasional, electrifying, fights. Okay so the fights weren't 'occasional'; they were a regular thing, and he'd enjoyed them every single time. He was glad that didn't seem to be changing any time soon.

He only had to take a slight detour to walk past a 24 hour store on the way home. There were no customers in there since a much cheaper store was within walking distance and open at this time of the day.

Perfect.

Despite having left his teens, Sanji was still a little uncomfortable buying condoms. He supposed he'd grow out of it eventually, but his cheeks reddened slightly as he walked over to the shelf housing the rows of condom packs and lubricants. He avoided eye contact with the bored looking cashier that was currently reading a magazine.

The variation of condoms was excessive: ribbed and dotted, extra thin, extra thick, flavored and more. Sanji got hot in the face just looking at the colorful packs. He reached out for the ribbed ones he usually bought. His hand stilled as he paused.

That's right. Zoro was the one who was going to be using these. His fingers hesitated on the package. He wasn't sure he'd be able to handle that; it would be so embarrassing if he didn't last more than a couple of minutes. He looked around for other sizes, finding the regular, plain XL condoms. He squirmed slightly at the thought.

Sanji picked out both silicone and non-silicone based lubrication, unsure of which Zoro preferred. The bottles were relatively small and Sanji bit his lower lip, glancing up to the shelf. "Fuck it, he's huge. Better to have too much than too little..." Sanji breathed in embarrassment and threw two of each into the basket. Hopefully he'd be able to use all of it, even if it wasn't tonight specifically.

He looked up at the register; the staff member wasn't sitting by the desk. Confused by this, Sanji looked around, jumping out of his skin when he saw the young man looking extremely awkward by the magazine rack.

Shit. Wait. Did he just say that out loud? Damn. Sanji avoided eye contact completely, placing the huge amount of sex-supplies on the counter. Damn, he would like to buy something else to make it look less obvious, but the amount of lube would make even the most innocent lollipop or umbrella look out of place or sexual. The cashier looked a little uncomfortable ringing up the large amounts of lube and condoms.

"I don't need a bag." Sanji said awkwardly, passing his card over as he swept the entire stockpile into his grocery bag. He took his card back and waved the guy, walking out red faced and heading straight home. Unknowingly leaving the poor cashier extremely aroused and staring after him.

Sanji got home with 30 minutes to spare until Zoro was out of work. He got the chicken ready, heating the oven and preparing what had to cook for at least 30 minutes. Zoro wouldn't get out on the dot, and after he did, he'd still have to get here. Sanji placed the chicken in the oven, deciding to prioritize a shower over the salad.

Sanji washed thoroughly, scrubbing away at any and all spots Zoro might kiss. Judging from the way the older man had sucked on his neck that was pretty much his entire body. The mental image alone made Sanji harden; he couldn't WAIT to pull off Zoro's clothes. Touch that scar on his chest, lick at it and try to get Zoro to make more of those addicting sounds.

Knowing a lost battle when he saw one, Sanji leant on the wall, taking ahold of himself and rubbing at the head in the same way Zoro did through his pants earlier in the storage room. The memory alone made Sanji's back arch and pulled a loud moan from his throat, the cold of the tiles reminding him of the steel of the shelves. The heat and memory of Zoro's breath on his neck mixed in with his earlier fantasies pushing Sanji over the edge with a buckle of his hips and an openmouthed gasp that filled his mouth with water.

The blond panted, twisting the showerhead to wash all evidence off the wall. He groaned, running a hand through his hair and shampooing as he tried to calm his heart. That had been way too fast, it had been a good thing to top off a little he supposed as he finished his shower and stepped out.

He'd be less desperate now. How embarrassing it would have been to come before he took his pants off. Besides, he'd be able to last longer with Zoro and-

Damn it he was getting hard again.

Ignoring his hyperactive sex drive, Sanji put on some of his nicer clothes. He didn't want to overdress since Zoro was probably just wearing jeans and a sweater and the last thing he wanted was to make the other man uncomfortable. He also didn't want to wear anything expensive just in case it had to come off fast.

He finished preparing the side dishes and salad, glancing at the clock every two minutes just to make sure time was still passing. Sanji set the table, tidied up his apartment, changed the sheets, opened all the windows to get some oxygen into the apartment and eventually sat down by the window to smoke.

It was already ten minutes past; the chicken was ready and being kept warm. Sanji knew that Zoro probably needed at least ten minutes to finish up at work, clock out and such, but the waiting was still painful. When the clock ticked to 17 minutes past, Sanji's phone rang.

The blond threw himself out of his seat and stomped to the living room, grabbing his phone and catching his breath while staring at 'shitty boss (don't answer)' on his call display. Sanji winced, he'd have to change that. Sanji flicked the answer tab to the side and brought the phone up to his ear.

"I'm outside the building, what entrance do I use? The blue one?" Zoro's voice was agitated and Sanji could tell the man had been trying to figure it out for a while. Just knowing Zoro was in the vicinity of his home made Sanji all giddy, and he didn't care that Zoro was currently standing by the backdoor of the neighbor's house.

"No lost idiot. That's the backdoor. Not even MY back door." Sanji had to resist making jokes relating to Zoro being welcome to 'come to his backdoor'. "Come around the side of the house where the garbage cans are."

Sanji toed on his shoes and kept the phone on his ear, listening to Zoro grumble something under his breath. Sanji opened his front door and stepped outside, watching the corner where Zoro appeared frowning with a tinge of embarrassed pink around his ears.

"Oh wait. There's some stupid bastard in my yard." Sanji said with fake worry, watching Zoro look around angrily for the non-existent perpetrator. "My mistake. It's only you." Sanji said with a laugh, loud enough for Zoro to hear him across the yard.

The marimo frowned and dramatically hung up, pocketing his phone and making his way to Sanji's door. Sanji took a step back, holding the door open as Zoro entered his apartment, looking out of place in his long green coat that was buttoned at the front and lined with some dark fur-like material.

Zoro dropped the bag he was holding to the floor with a bright clatter of bottles, pulling off his gloves as Sanji shut the door. The blond locked the door firmly, turning off the doorbell just in case someone might get the idea to interrupt them. When he turned around Zoro caught his shoulders, pressed him against the door and kissed him firmly, lips pulling at Sanji's gently to coax them apart.

The wait and anxiety drained from Sanji´s system, forced out by the want and warmth that blossomed in his chest and spread all the way to his fingertips. Zoro's nose was cold when it brushed against Sanji's cheek, head tilting in an attempt to deepen the kiss.

Sanji ran his hands up to Zoro's face, cupping the cold cheeks in his warm palms and parting his lips, licking teasingly over Zoro's bottom lip in a greeting. Zoro seemed to melt into his touch, cold hands creeping up to Sanji's sides before suddenly dipping under the fabric of his shirt.

"AAAAH! Bastard! Cold!" Sanji gasped in horror and squirmed. Zoro's hands were sliding along his bare sides, spreading cold shivers and a burning need simultaneously. Sanji shuddered for two completely different reasons, pulling away from Zoro and his icy cold hands.

"Take off your coat and hang it up. Dinner's getting cold." Sanji scooped the bag from the floor and sidestepped out of Zoro's reach when the man attempted to catch him. "I'm not letting you touch me with those icy hands! How long were you lost outside my house?"

Zoro huffed in annoyance, pulling off his coat and revealing the plain black long sleeve shirt and black jeans underneath. "Not that long. Maybe five minutes?" He placed the jacket on one of the chairs, disregarding Sanji's instructions to hang it up properly.

"You should have called." Sanji brought the food to their plates and put them on the table, opening a bottle of the very nice wine Zoro brought. "What's this? How did you know this goes well with chicken?" Sanji frowned at the label. He wasn't allowed to buy alcohol yet.

"I saw the contents of your basket, so I asked the guy at the wine store what would go well with it." Zoro shrugged, looking at the food on his plate with interest. He picked up his fork and knife as Sanji poured them wine. He wished he had some nicer wine glasses.

"You´re not as stupid as you look. Then again that would be impossible." Sanji said conversationally, ignoring the kick he got under the table. Zoro frowned at him as he took a bite out of the chicken, eyes narrowed in annoyance before he pulled back to inspect the food better.

"What? Allergic to something?" Sanji's curled brows rose, he forgot to ask, shit. Typical him. If Zoro had to go to the hospital or something Sanji would never forgive himself. He wanted to hit his head on the table. Zoro kept chewing though, glaring at Sanji all the while.

"Are you still going to insist you're not a chef?" Zoro poked the chicken threateningly with his fork, he didn't seem happy. "Because if you do I'm going to have to kick your scrawny ass."

"Not scrawny!" Sanji argued, kicking Zoro under the table. He was blushing red at the compliment but the other man just chuckled into his mouthful of salad. The sexual tension eased into talking about work and the day's obnoxious customer. They dubbed him "the corn guy".

"I mean how seriously does that guy take his corn? I've seen my old man less concerned for his pain medication!" Sanji said in exasperation, earning himself some laughter from the other side of the table.

"To be fair, your old man doesn't seem like the type to get concerned in general." Zoro pointed out with an arch of his eyebrow, taking his glass and swirling the contents. Sanji cringed as he remembered how embarrassing his old man had been.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I have no idea what he was trying to achieve." Sanji sighed, lighting himself a cigarette as he glanced at the clock. Tension ran through his body at the sight, it was getting rather late, and they finished eating almost an hour ago.

Time really flew while talking to Zoro, even if they kept arguing and kicking each other under the table like children. Sanji's cheeks warmed, Zoro had been sitting patiently across the table while he kept blathering on. Maybe he was annoyed Sanji hadn't made a move yet?

The blond glanced from the clock to Zoro, feeling the heat in his ears as he tried to study the large man's expression. The usually furrowed brow was smooth and his expression content, amused even. One functioning eye resting on Sanji's face and lips curved around the edge of the glass in a small smile.

_God he was gorgeous._ Sanji's mouth abruptly felt dry, sitting with Zoro across the dinner table suddenly became heart wrenchingly perfect and nerve-wracking at the same time. He'd never imagined this, the warm atmosphere in his apartment, the smell of food and Zoro's aftershave lingering it the air.

Sanji's hands trembled slightly around his cigarette, neither of them had said a word for a moment, and the silence was toxic to the younger man's sanity.

How did he change the subject to sex without making it seem that was all he wanted? He had no idea; Zoro was tearing down all his norms and flipping all his usual methods of courtship.

He wanted Zoro. Not just physically, he wanted _him. _All of him. Every day. Physically and mentally. He wanted long talks and arguments, surprise kisses and jokes. He wanted Zoro hot and sweaty next to him when he fell asleep every night. He wanted him snoring in his bed when he woke up.

If this was just sex to Zoro, Sanji wasn't sure he would be able to handle it. He'd felt similarly towards his girlfriends before, except this time it was real. It cut deeper; this was bigger and darker and all consuming. Eye contact burned him to his soul, and every small brush of their feet under the table sent a tingle up his spine.

"Cook?" Zoro's fingers snapped in front of Sanji's face, ripping Sanji from his thoughts. There was slight concern in the older man's expression and Sanji shook himself from his trance and smiled slightly.

"Yeah sorry. I was just thinking about how stupid your face was." Sanji shook his head, biting on his tongue as he mentally berated himself for insulting the other man. To his luck, Zoro's frown had an amused twitch to it.

"Not as stupid as your eyebrow." Zoro commented, relaxing back in his seat as the tension settled. Sanji grumbled some obscene things under his breath, finishing his drink as Zoro laughed at his extensive vocabulary of cuss words.

"That's right. I almost forgot I made desserts." Sanji got up from his seat, trying to smile confidently to the other man, but only managing a slightly awkward grin. He could do this. This wasn't anything to worry about. Zoro wanted him, if Sanji was sure of anything right now, it was that Zoro wasn't about to reject him.

With a calming breath and a confident crush of his cigarette, Sanji walked to the kitchen; trying not to inhale too much of Zoro's scent when he walked past and out of view. The man's jaw was tense and Sanji could feel that one dark eye linger on the back of his head.

Before Zoro arrived, Sanji had put together the most delicious looking whipped cream fruit parfaits. The sound of the fridge purring as he pulled them out eased his nerves. He flicked the switch on the coffee machine, listening to it bubble and hiss as he put the final touches on the desserts.

"Do you need help?" Zoro entered the kitchen after a few minutes, filling out the door frame and holding their plates. Sanji hurriedly stepped aside, blocking the desserts from view as he finished decorating them. Zoro frowned and took a step closer to Sanji, who leveled a foot threateningly to his chest to keep him away.

"No peeking!"

Zoro grumbled, still holding the plates awkwardly as he glanced down at Sanji's extended leg. The older man was significantly taller than Sanji, so burying his heel in Zoro's chest took quite the show of flexibility to pull off.

Zoro seemed to realize this at the same moment Sanji did. The swordsman took a step backwards, eye glued to Sanji's and tension visible in his neck. Zoro's ears reddened slightly as Sanji held the pose, pulling his leg back without lowering it.

"Put the plates in the sink, we'll clean up later." Sanji gestured to the small counter, lighting himself a cigarette casually. "You can take the coffee and that tray to the couch." Sanji mused using his raised foot to close the fridge, holding eye contact the entire time.

The tension in the air was practically thick enough to cut. Sanji inhaled it with the smoke, keeping it in his lungs and feeling the calm and warmth seep through his entire body. Zoro was looking at him with such an amusing mix of wonder and frustration it was almost impossible to read what the man was thinking.

Sanji felt like the entire world had narrowed down to just the two of them standing in the kitchen and listening to the final drops of coffee drip into the carafe. The smell of coffee in the air mixed with the smell of his tobacco.

The kitchen seemed smaller with Zoro standing in it like the mossy mountain he was; in fact, the whole apartment seemed fuller somehow. After a moment of awkward silence, Zoro did as he was told. Eye contact was broken as the larger man took the tray of coffee to the living room without as much as a glance in Sanji's direction.

Sanji turned back to the dessert, pulling long spoons from a drawer and tucking them in after making sure they were perfectly spotless. He could hear the clatter of tableware from the living room and the dull thud of Zoro's weight sinking into the couch and creak of leather fabric.

"It's parfaits. Fresh fruit of course." Sanji called from the kitchen and carried the dessert carefully, trying not to spill the mountain of cream and fruit that balanced beautifully at the top of the tall frosted glasses. The blond entered the living room, focusing on the spoon of the left parfait that was threatening to spill some of the cream over the edge.

"Those look fake." Zoro eyed the desserts with interest, sitting up in the couch and reaching out for his portion. Sanji glanced over to the other man, almost dropping the dessert on the table as his mind went blank for a fraction of a second.

Zoro was lounging casually on the couch, leaning on the armrest with one foot on the floor and another resting parallel with his ankle over is knee. He looked like something out of a magazine, looking up at Sanji with an outstretched hand, shirt riding up slightly in the pull.

Sanji licked his lips, trying not to stare at the large, muscular body invitingly relaxed and sensually displayed on his couch. Catching himself, he handed the parfait over, wasting no time in taking his seat besides Zoro on the couch.

The moment Zoro dug into the parfait, fishing out a cream drenched kiwi and somehow managing to eat it in the most erotic way a human being had ever eaten fruit, Sanji realized just exactly what kind of mess he'd gotten himself into.

There was no way he'd be able to continue a coherent conversation. He'd messed up, there was no way he wasn't about to make a fool out of himself.

Whipped cream and Zoro had never aided in his thinking process before.

* * *

This tension filled chapter was beta-ed with love by the amazing **MistressHasty **!

The idiots are practically at boiling point right now. This story is about to earn it's M rating.


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